James Bond Online: the strange tale of MI6, Facebook and eBay

By Davey Winder
Tuesday, 30 September 2008 15:13

Government Tech Policy

The British Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI6 to spy fans around the world, is not as secret nor, it would appear, as intelligent as you might think.

MI6 is the British 'Secret Service' agency, you know the one that sends James Bond types out across the world to "promote and defend national security." It provides the British Government, so says the official SIS website with a global covert capability to do just that.

What the Secret Squirrel website does not mention is that it is looking for 008 on Facebook, or should that be Facespook?

Sure, there is already a section of the MI6 website that deals with recruiting and there are current vacancies for 'case officers' if you are interested.

A case officer, by the way, "plan and carry out covert intelligence operations overseas" which sounds an awful lot like spying to me.

Ah yes, here it is "they gather the secret intelligence the Government needs to promote and defend UK national interests."

MI6 are "particularly interested in people with skills in Mandarin, Arabic, Dari, Farsi and Pashto" so they say.

Anyway, no mention of Facebook. Yet the stiff upper lip of Government intelligence seems to be wavering a little as MI6 is definitely embracing social networking.

Which makes a change from the usual trick of recruiting directly from the cream of Oxford and Cambridge university students.

So how is MI6 using Facebook to find the next James Bond? More on page 2...

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