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Female spies of MI6

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Re: Female spies of MI6

#101

Post by [deleted] »

frontman1988 wrote: post #77
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These Spies “Run Agents”: recruit, train, hand hold, interview, debrief and analyse, pay/bribe and present the information from the traitors, drug smugglers, or other people with nothing much to lose. I’m sure there may be dangerous jobs but these days much of that can be done from friendly countries or even the office. [edit] list of roles from MI6 site: https://www.sis.gov.uk/intelligence-officers.html

How does the first step of recruiting the agents/local traitors happen? Most of the official spies who are on diplomatic visa are tracked 24x7 in countries like China/NK/Russia.

[deleted]

Re: Female spies of MI6

#102

Post by drakonka »

frontman1988 wrote: post #67

How does spying by humans/agents even work these days? I can't imagine a british agent going around spying in North korea, China or even Russia, much less a woman. Cause if you get caught you are going to get tortured into oblivion. Hence most of these 'spies' are on a diplomatic visa to prevent getting disappeared/tortured and therefore most of their movements are easily tracked. Spying as an agent is probably the w…

I recently learned about a man who was imprisoned for spying for Russia in my country. He was an engineer with his own limited company who contracted for local car manufacturers and apparently passed on sensitive information from his clients to a Russian contact. I believe he was born in this country and "recruited" locally.

Re: Female spies of MI6

#103

Post by PenguinCoder »

aliqot wrote: post #93
marliechiller wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found this extends to lower status roles in general - I have also worked as a secretary as a male and found the same thing

Everyone talks to the barber.

Not me. I just want them to cut my hair. No talking, just cut.

Re: Female spies of MI6

#104

Post by euroderf »

frontman1988 wrote: post #67

How does spying by humans/agents even work these days? I can't imagine a british agent going around spying in North korea, China or even Russia, much less a woman. Cause if you get caught you are going to get tortured into oblivion. Hence most of these 'spies' are on a diplomatic visa to prevent getting disappeared/tortured and therefore most of their movements are easily tracked. Spying as an agent is probably the w…

Pervasive facial recog like in the PRC probably makes a lot of espionage ops terribly more difficult. I'd like to read about how though.

Re: Female spies of MI6

#105

Post by morrbo »

etrevino wrote: post #24
giantg2 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah... not a good idea. That's the type of info you might divulge on your deathbed to adult children. Absolutely insane to tell teens while still working there.

I can speak as someone who was in the same situation as the teens. This is about the time that the kids begin to cotton on to the fact that things aren't quite right. Really, this is the point at which the parent has to start lying (as opposed to saying something like "oh I work for the government") or trust to their children's discretion. The kids' entire raising up to this point has normalized strong patriotism and…

with all due respect, youve now just basically told an entire anonymous message board that someone in your family is/was related to the security services. This is basically the example why you dont tell people this stuff. The entire article reeks of bs...everyone who has even remotely been involved in any of this knows exactly what youre meant to say if anyone asks you...and its sure as shit not "ok tell everyone x, except if theyre from the financial times, then just be honest" lol

Re: Female spies of MI6

#107

Post by robofanatic »

photoGrant wrote: post #69
frontman1988 wrote: post #67

How does spying by humans/agents even work these days? I can't imagine a british agent going around spying in North korea, China or even Russia, much less a woman. Cause if you get caught you are going to get tortured into oblivion. Hence most of these 'spies' are on a diplomatic visa to prevent getting disappeared/tortured and therefore most of their movements are easily tracked. Spying as an agent is probably the w…

What exactly is your experience? This just seems so innocently naive about how spies actually work

> What exactly is your experience?

watching spy documentaries/movies on netflix, youtube

Re: Female spies of MI6

#108

Post by etrevino »

morrbo wrote: post #105
etrevino wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can speak as someone who was in the same situation as the teens. This is about the time that the kids begin to cotton on to the fact that things aren't quite right. Really, this is the point at which the parent has to start lying (as opposed to saying something like "oh I work for the government") or trust to their children's discretion. The kids' entire raising up to this point has normalized strong patriotism and…

with all due respect, youve now just basically told an entire anonymous message board that someone in your family is/was related to the security services. This is basically the example why you dont tell people this stuff. The entire article reeks of bs...everyone who has even remotely been involved in any of this knows exactly what youre meant to say if anyone asks you...and its sure as shit not "ok tell everyone x,…

That's old and "expired" data from over thirty years ago and the family member I'm discussing is open about it, now. What needs to stay quiet (in this instance) is operational details, not that this person did the work. So your point doesn't really stand. I felt it was useful information and it was information that was safe for me to share, so I did.

The Financial Times article is, of course, intended to promote the service to women and it really doesn't hide that fact. You can bet that MI6 reviewed the article before it went to publication and everything in there was vetted a thousand times. It wouldn't shock me if small, fake biographical details were added into the article to obscure who these people really are. We don't know. The fact is, though, that since this piece is probably meant to advertise the service and-- given where it was printed-- it's probably directed at Oxbridge women. That is, women who have more job mobility than most. MI6 wants women to know that they won't be viewed as honey pots and that they can have a family. So the article is probably going to be an accurate representation at some level: since these particular women can leave if they want to, you don't want to misrepresent what they're getting into if you intend to keep them.

Re: Female spies of MI6

#109

Post by dijit »

photoGrant wrote: post #69
frontman1988 wrote: post #67

How does spying by humans/agents even work these days? I can't imagine a british agent going around spying in North korea, China or even Russia, much less a woman. Cause if you get caught you are going to get tortured into oblivion. Hence most of these 'spies' are on a diplomatic visa to prevent getting disappeared/tortured and therefore most of their movements are easily tracked. Spying as an agent is probably the w…

What exactly is your experience? This just seems so innocently naive about how spies actually work

The people who know anything about spies are not going to reply to a thread such as this.

I was nearly involved with SIS in some capacity and the amount of background probing was enough to make me scared for ever being closer than I have to be.

I can say with confidence that if you've been in the apparatus then you wouldn't even want to say anything. There's a lot of brainwashing that happens too (you could see the outcome of the Snowden revelations for example) so people would be very defensive of the concept of giving out info they have and extremely likely to be motivated in hunting down "leakers".

Re: Female spies of MI6

#110

Post by hallway_monitor »

PenguinCoder wrote: post #103
aliqot wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone talks to the barber.

Not me. I just want them to cut my hair. No talking, just cut.

Obligatory "I'm sure you're fun at parties". Honestly though why would anyone have this attitude? It seems like having a conversation with someone while getting your hair cut has zero downside, and the guaranteed upside both of you being a little more entertained. Possible upsides are actually getting into a meaningful conversation or stumbling on a new opportunity. Seems like a win-win to me.
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