Following the release of the latest James Bond film, UK job searches for the MI6 spy
agency reportedly rose by more than 230%.
What exactly does MI6 do, and for that matter, what about MI5?
Or MI19?
What’s the difference?
Well, British MI, or military intelligence services, were founded in the early 20th century.
At the time there were ten branches, and by World War Two there were more than a dozen.
But not every MI section actually provided intelligence.
Instead they were responsible for making sure wartime logistics were in place, such as supplying
military maps or helping troops evade the enemy.
When the war ended, most of these branches, from MI1 to MI19 were dissolved or absorbed
by the remaining intelligence services, MI5 and MI6.
So what are their responsibilities today?
Both services function to collect information, or intelligence, in order to support relevant
agencies like law enforcement and the military, among others.
The big difference is that MI5, or “The Security Service” monitors and operates
domestically, while MI6, or “The Secret Intelligence Service” provides foreign intelligence.
A direct comparison to the United States would see the Federal Bureau of Investigations representing
MI5, and the Central Intelligence Agency as MI6.
Another way to say it is that MI6 spies on other countries, and MI5 tries to catch other
countries spying on them.
For example, as the domestic intelligence agency, MI5 began collecting telephone communications
data in bulk following the 2001 September 11th attacks, not unlike the NSA in the United
States.
This mass surveillance was only admitted to in 2015, more than a decade after collection
began, and due to the legal framework behind it, there was little oversight or regulation.
However, the foreign intelligence service, MI6, has been a national secret since its
inception in 1909.
It actually took until 1994 for the British Government to officially acknowledge the existence
of the organization.
Even today, almost no information about it is released.
It is not publicly known exactly how many people work for MI6, how big its budget is,
or who even works for it, besides the acknowledgement of their Chief, Alex Younger.
The MI6 motto is even “Sem-per Occ-coul-tus”, Latin for “Always Secret”.
It is almost ironic that the more secret of the two, MI6, gets considerably more press
and attention.
But both MI5 and MI6 work to protect the United Kingdom by keeping an eye on both internal
and foreign affairs.
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Decades ago, the KGB used to be the Soviet security and foreign intelligence agency — but
unlike MI5 and MI6, it was well-known and highly feared.
Check out our video here to find out why.
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