Working for MI6 can be more exciting than a James Bond film, an agency director has claimed.
The first black MI6 spy to give a television interview, known only as Kwame, told the BBC that the things he has seen “will blow you away”.
It comes as MI6 launched a major campaign to attract more black and Asian spies this week with an interview with an Asian director to be broadcast at lunchtime today.
MI6 is the UK’s foreign intelligence service whose task is to gather information from other countries with the primary aim of stopping terrorism, disrupting the activities of hostile states and strengthening cyber security.
Kwame described his role at the agency as director of organizational development, which is effectively the head of finance and human resources.
Kwame said working at MI6 can be more exciting than James Bond movies
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) is commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence Section 6)
The interview was conducted as part of a campaign by MI6 to recruit more ethnic minority employees.
He told the bbc that he has seen things “much more than what you see in spy movies.”
“It’s more exciting than James Bond. I’ve seen some of the most interesting things. Things that will blow your mind.
‘You have to be there to see it. The problem is that if you talk about James Bond it gives you a different connotation,” he stated.
Kwame added that it is “not true” that everyone who works at MI6 is “middle-class white men.”
‘I’m afraid it makes you think that everyone who works here is a middle-class white man, who drives an Aston Martin, who likes women and all that. But that’s not true.
‘You can see that’s not necessarily true in my case. “We want to reach out to all the brothers and sisters and say, in fact, SIS, MI6, is a place for you.”
He said working for the agency pays well, but added that he works there for the impact he can have.
“Ultimately, our mission is to protect the United Kingdom (and) protect the people of the United Kingdom,” Kwame said.
The groundbreaking interview comes as MI6 acknowledged, for the first time, that it employs ethnic minority staff at such a high level.
It is the first time in MI6’s history that two of its black and Asian directors have given interviews on BBC radio.
They report to boss Sir Richard Moore, known as C, and his three chief executives, all of whom are women.
The recruitment drive began last night at 9pm on Radio 1Xtra when Kwame gave his interview.
Today the interview with another director, Jay, of Indian origin, will be broadcast on the Nihal Arthanayake program on Radio 5 Live starting at 1 p.m.
Jay will say MI6’s commitment to following UK law means it is operating “with one hand tied behind its back”.
He said: “I think we play by different rules.” We have a different set of values.
‘But the answer is not to lower our standards, our values and act as they do.
“But that doesn’t mean we’re not incredibly effective at understanding and responding to the threats they might pose.”
Intelligence sources said black and Asian spies were needed to help MI6 fight international terrorism and gather intelligence on hostile states such as Russia and Iran.
Just under nine per cent of MI6 staff are from an ethnic minority, compared to the Whitehall department average of 15 per cent, and their average pay is 13.2 per cent less than that of white colleagues.
The BBC interviews are likely to dispel popular myths about MI6, such as 007 James Bond’s “license to kill” power.
Another misconception is “tapping on the shoulder” at an Oxbridge college as a way of recruiting agents.
All applications for spies, known as intelligence officers, are usually made through their website, with starting salaries of £39,709 to £50,160.
Last month, MI6, MI5 and GCHQ published pay gap reports revealing that ethnic minorities and women received significantly lower salaries and bonuses than their white male counterparts.
Statistics showed that 38 per cent of MI6 staff are women, but men earn on average 12.9 per cent more.
Sir Richard said the pay figures were “disappointing” but added that MI6 was committed to increasing ethnic minority staff as part of its “personnel strategy”.