Britain’s New Spy Chief Has a New Mission

Some might wonder, therefore, if the appointment of Blaise Metreweli, the first woman to lead SIS, is part of this image campaign. She was showcased (under a pseudonym of “Ada”) in a flattering Financial Times profile in 2022 of the up-and-coming women who, at the time, occupied three out of the four top deputy roles in the service. Moore had repeatedly made it clear that he wanted a woman to succeed him—a case of life following art, given that 007’s boss has been played by Judi Dench in eight Bond films since 1995.

For a supposedly secret organization, Britain’s foreign intelligence service spends a lot of time honing its public profile. Key messages emphasize the relevance, effectiveness, and modern management style of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), colloquially known as MI6. Forget the James Bond films, with their flamboyant stunts and louche sexual antics, or the starchy, tweedy, more realistic world of John le Carré’s George Smiley novels, where espionage was the British establishment’s shadowy outstation, never publicly mentioned by name. Today’s SIS advertises itself as a mirror of modern Britain: diverse, inclusive, and classless. If you want to join, you do not wait for a tap on the shoulder from an Oxbridge don; you go to the website. The service’s former boss (known as “C”), Sir Richard Moore, even coined the tag “ #ForgetJamesBond ” on a post on X about family-friendly careers at MI6.

For a supposedly secret organization, Britain’s foreign intelligence service spends a lot of time honing its public profile. Key messages emphasize the relevance, effectiveness, and modern management style of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), colloquially known as MI6. Forget the James Bond films, with their flamboyant stunts and louche sexual antics, or the starchy, tweedy, more realistic world of John le Carré’s George Smiley novels, where espionage was the British establishment’s shadowy outstation, never publicly mentioned