Spying not fast cars and blondes

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Intelligence work, or spying, is not about fast cars, consorting with beautiful women and frequent globetrotting, warns MI6.

The success of Skyfall, the latest film in the James Bond franchise, has led the MI6, Britain’s intelligence service, to counter the notion of spying that involves “high-speed chases” and “shoot-outs in casinos” by issuing advertisements on the “qualities of a good spy.” “If the qualities that make a good spy were obvious, they wouldn’t make a very good spy,” MI6 advises in the full-page advertisements in newspapers.

The success of espionage films, especially the James Bond series and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
based on John Le Carre’s book of the same name, has not helped the British secret services.

A lot of thrill seekers and fantasists turn up for recruitment as spies.

Having set up a fast-track programme of recruitment of outstanding candidates, MI6 is looking for people with interest in global affairs.

“So while it’s true that the work is often challenging and even exciting, the qualities we look for are more ordinary than you would imagine. And more subtle,” MI6 reveals.

Spying for MI6 isn’t covert surveillance, or globetrotting to exotic locations, it is more like getting along with people from different cultures and backgrounds, having the drive and imagination to link up pieces of data to reveal opportunities others may have missed.

Unlike Smiley, the taciturn MI6 spy in John Le Carre’s books, the SIS describes “to talk and to listen,” as the best attributes of a good intelligence officer.

The old Tinker tailor Soldier Spy image of hyperintelligent, slightly dysfunctional oddball is also not what MI6 spies are like, according to the SIS. “In fact, you will find that we value both emotional intelligence and academic achievement.” The agencies in Britain, which used to recruit mostly from old-boy networks and universities, have become more open, innovative and varied in their recruitment.

MI6 also addresses the “stereotype” of white male spies. “We don’t care what you are or where you are from, as long as you are a British national.”