“C” will be a woman for the first time. The letter “C” is the code name of the chief, and soon of the head of the MI6, the external intelligence of the United Kingdom. The announcement was made this Sunday, June 15 in a statement from the British government. “I am proud and honored that I am asked to direct my service,” reacted Blaise Metreweli, who currently directs “Q”, the technological branch of the MI6.
She joined the espionage services in 1999 and worked in the Middle East and in Europe in operational roles most of her career. The 47 -year -old woman also graduated in anthropology of the prestigious English University of Cambridge.
“Historical appointment”
Blaise Metreweli held management positions within the MI6 and MI5, inner intelligence. These two agencies, with the GCHQ, the communications headquarters, form the British secret services. Only the MI6, created in 1909, had never known a woman at her head.
The boss of the spy agency abroad, of which 17 leaders have already succeeded, is the only service officer whose name is made public. The designation of Blaise Metreweli “comes at a time when the role of our intelligence services has never been so crucial,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in the statement of 10 Downing Street.
The outgoing director, Sir Richard Moore, who will leave his duties in the fall after a five -year term, considers himself “absolutely delighted with this historic appointment” of his colleague expert in technology, reports the BBC. “The role of the MI6 is to recruit human agents to steal secrets from the opponents of the United Kingdom,” said the public broadcaster.
Threats from countries like Russia, China, North Korea or Iran … There are many challenges for service based in London, under the supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“M”, the boss of the Mi6 in some James Bond books and films, finds (finally) in Blaise Metreweli his double in real life. Thirty years after the first appearance in the cinema of “M” played by actress Judi Dench, reality joins fiction.