British MI6 vs American CIA // surprising differences between the world's best spies

[@GirlGoneLondonofficial]

Take back your personal data with Incogni! Use code girlgonelondon at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: incogni.com/girlgonelondon

[@polarisukyc1204]

I’m a student in the UK and at one point there was a careers fair on campus at which both MI6 and GCHQ were present with a stall that had the smallest logo I’ve seen in my life, I spoke with one of the guys running the stall and he gave me business card with no logo or identifying marks, all it had were some pleasant looking blue and green patterns, a QR code and the phrase ‘unlock your potential’ the MIB vibes it gave off were INTENSE

[@caromurray6152]

Loved the reference to the old MI6 building as being made of lots of glass with a petrol station next to it!! No wonder they moved!!😂

[@nicksykes4575]

Hi Kalyn, the OSS was modelled on another organisation formed by Churchill, called the SOE, (Special Operations Executive) there's a film released earlier this year, "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare", which was Churchills nickname for them. There was also a branch of Military Intelligence call MI9, responsible for prisoners of war, they commandeered Trent Park stately home, and sent high ranking German officers there to live like lords, the different branches, army, navy and air force gossiped and boasted about tactics and what they knew, it never occurred too them that MI9 had the whole place bugged, and found out a lot of things that the Germans should really have kept to themselves.

[@Poliss95]

@nicksykes4575 Does the film mention the SOE Netherlands catastrophe?

[@occamraiser]

Who does counter-spying / counter-subversion inside the US? The CIA or the FBI? I ask, since that's the role of MI5 here.

[@chrismac2234]

Gubbins created soe. It's a book. A movie happens to have the same name. Read the book.

[@chrismac2234]

​@@occamraiserit's the fbi m8. They Co ordinate, but it's the fbi or homeland security now.

[@theplasteredfinger5942]

MI6 "let's just say i'm a civil servant and leave it at that" reads spy

[@vladd6787]

That was my line when I worked for the Inland Revenue.

[@58JMG]

​@@vladd6787😂

[@occamraiser]

Yep, when I was (believe it or not!) a 20 year old 'sandwich' student doing a year of my degree at GCHQ 40 years ago that was the standard answer.

[@Volcano-Man]

I am a retired Civil Servant and beyond that you can go whistle.

[@Tranxhead]

HMRC staff normally say that.

[@alexf7377]

My brother used to say he worked for MFI in the logistics department. (*MFI - A now defunct DIY/furniture chain.)

[@duncanclark7592]

By far the best Blog you have ever done. Absolutely Factual.

[@FalcomScott312]

I love how you brought up this new topic the M16 here in Britian vs. CIA over in North America here!

[@simongee8928]

Good that you recognise the difference between MI6 & MI5. Many British assume the James Bonds of this world work for MI5 which is home security with MI6 being foreign security. 😊

[@carltaylor6452]

This is true, in theory, but just as the idea that the CIA doesn't operate on US soil is laughable, I wonder how strictly the MI5/6 demarcation operates in practice. (Have you seen Skyfall?)

[@dasy2k1]

​@@carltaylor6452well as soon as something crosses boarders you can bet MI6 are involved even if it's joint with MI5..... As I understand it a lot of what MI5 does on a day to day basis is stuff that in the USA would be handled by the FBI, DEA, etc

[@lenrichardson7349]

@@carltaylor6452 Don't confuse the ficton of James Bond with the boring mundane work real agents do. Most don;t have guns but laptops.

[@lindsayheyes925]

​@@carltaylor6452Skyfall is fiction ffs.

[@jamesbeeching6138]

Great video GGL.....Also a major part of MI6/MI5 is GCHQ in Cheltenham....This is a world leader in communications Intel and counter espionage and counter hacking....A friend of mine worked there and said they helped US a lot with a large number of Americans on placement.

[@harrybarrow6222]

Stella Remington (see Wikipedia) was the first female Director General of MI5 in the 1990s. She has written an autobiography and a series of novels about a female spy.

[@Diovanlestat]

I liked her, but no matter what she said I still believe they are all 007 trained in assassination.

[@MrAlsachti]

Stella Rimington is such a Piercebrosnianian spy name!

[@Nosmo90]

8:20: This looks like every Welcome Break motorway services that I’ve ever pulled into! 😆

[@RobG001]

Hi Kalyn, MI6 use to have a section where you could test you suitability to be an employee, I failed miserably, but you are a lot smarter than I am, maybe give it a go, if it's still there. :)

[@viyye]

it's very clear why you didn't make it

[@womble321]

My late Father worked for MI7 he only found out because when he went on leave that's what his leave pass said!

[@vladd6787]

Journalist was he?

[@BillDavies-ej6ye]

@@vladd6787 Producer of propaganda!

[@idristaylor5093]

I totally didn't see the slide in to Incogni. 🤣

[@finlandtaipan4454]

Fascinating topic. I read "Spycatcher", a biog of Peter Wright, an engineer who worked for British intelligence and became an assistant director of MI5. The book was banned in England but I bought it in Scotland. The real stories are much more interesting than fiction.

[@PreceptorGrant]

Yeah, Spycatcher is in interesting read.

[@Volcano-Man]

@@PreceptorGrant It was bleddy boring, worst thing the Government did was to ban it. It immediately became a best seller!

[@PreceptorGrant]

Oh, total Streisand effect, yeah. I didn't find it boring, but that's maybe because the cold war spy stuff interests me in the first place. Wright is no Alistair McLean or John Le Carre, that's for sure.

[@notreallydavid]

You can walk right up to the MI6 building, and there are no guards to be seen - but there are camerascamerascameras all over its nook-and-cranny-laden front elevation. (The back is plainer, but also camera-laden.)

[@Stewpot-p5l]

Try and get in and there’d be nothing left of you

[@Kyrelel]

@@Stewpot-p5l They would just escort you out

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

The choice of "plumber" as a false alternative to saying one's a CIA agent, made me laugh. 😅 Hint: Watergate.

[@oronjoffe]

The plumbers were actually FBI…

[@brettevill9055]

@@oronjoffe and they were fixing a leak.

[@Paul-lp6kt]

The reference actually comes from the word Plumb! They used to use a Lot more lead against Enemies in the past! The Good Old Days! Paul 🇺🇲🗽

[@harrybarrow6222]

Great video Kalyn! I suspect that our MI6 likes to project an image of bumbling incompetence, like Mr Bean, but is actually extremely competent.

[@Diovanlestat]

Above a Petrol station, I'm not sure. There have been some stories of crazy incompetence, but that goes along with a lucky strike and sometimes pure brilliance. I get the impression their work output is uneven. And so far, it's because luck is on our side. That's what you get for recruiting from mostly young upper class Uni people with no common sense and little experience of life.

[@peterjackson4763]

@@Diovanlestat I know someone who turned them down. He is not upper class.

[@Diovanlestat]

@@peterjackson4763 Yes, I believe you. They are recruiting more democratically now. Which is sensible. But on the whole they have targeted mainly university males from higher backgrounds.

[@The.Android]

No Aston Martin or a Rolex gadget watch? Forget it.

[@Barlofontain]

Omega

[@tonydarcy1606]

Well that's left me shaken but not stirred.

[@maxxie84]

eheh nice video, would be interesting to compare those two with the DGSE (French secret service)

[@MichaelLamming]

GCHQ and MI6 are linked, the same as the CIA and NSA. The SAS are Britain's Bond and they specialise in different things including counter terrorism.

[@williebauld1007]

@@MichaelLamming and the SBS

[@Westcountrynordic]

The SAS and SBS are more like Delta Force and Navy Seals

[@m341ehw]

GCHQ always makes me think Geeks...... MI6 Diplomats in suits and MI5 more Intelligent coppers.

[@Westcountrynordic]

@@m341ehw That's the perception they want you to believe

[@m341ehw]

@@Westcountrynordic I'm not sure GCHQ would like to be thought of as Moss and Roy from the IT Crowd!

[@BrandonLeeBrown]

My uncle actually was a plumber at CIA headquarters, because they don't bring in building maintenance people from outside, due to security concerns. His main job was to wait until something needed repair, but they would also give him odd jobs to keep him busy. He had an electric tool cart, with a remote control, to carry his tools around CIA headquarters. They would often have the CIA carpenters put up walls for a temporary room and have my uncle install a temporary drinking fountain and then have him remove it or move it down the hall at a later date. My aunt was a file clark at CIA headquarters. CIA headquarters has a bulletin board, where employees can post things for sale. Often there are personal weapons and gadgets brought in from other countries posted for sale. Before the shootings outside the CIA headquarters parking entrance, I used to deliver office supply paper to CIA headquarters. When I went to study in Europe, I actually lived like James Bond for several years.

[@lindsayheyes925]

James Bond or Basildon Bond?

[@williebauld1007]

Unit the 70's the British government didn't even know where MI6's HQ was! They moved around quite a bit just renting non descript office buildings

[@harrybarrow6222]

I remember that for a while during the Cold War, the exact location of the Post Office Tower, a 581 ft structure that can be seen for many miles, was secret.

[@williebauld1007]

@@harrybarrow6222 I know!!! It’s like there it is, but ssshhhh it’s a secret

[@notreallydavid]

They knew - but they didn't admit to the existence of the organisation.

[@hankstaines6568]

The Russians knew.

[@iddjutt]

they still do not know, it is not that building..

[@trueriver1950]

When asked for their job title, on Visa applications and other firms relating to international travel, all military personnel, all spies, and all civil servants at all grades are encouraged to simply say "government service". This supposedly makes it hard to figure out who is the spy, who is the paratrooper, and who cleans the floors in the corridors of power... 😅

[@lesh4357]

The Brits basically created the CIA, or at least the forerunner of it. This was done at training camps around the Great Lakes by the SOE. Unfortunately we also created the forerunner of the KGB at the same time, because Russia was an ally during WW2.

[@Jimmy_Jones]

Now you need an NSA vs GCHQ and NCSC comparison. I think one is better at keeping secrets.

[@DBIVUK]

SIS's building in Vauxhall was first designed as a general office building which is why it has a striking design; SIS only took it as their HQ when it was nearly finished. If SIS had been designing it from the start, they would have made it look very bland. The river front between the building and the River Thames is a public path (though it's been closed off in the last few years due to a major sewerage project unconnected to intelligence).

[@jaysterling26]

I think you'll find tye plans were at least a quadruple bluff. My actual name is an amalgamation of the 2 aforementioned fictional characters ( so hilarious at checking-in, initially after Identity). The last point in video- apologies if aforementioned- 5 eyes is so called group of the 5 Anglophone nations network - US, Canadá,UK, Oz, NZ that share intel. with each other regularly- of course with other allies as well when needed.

[@pabmusic1]

'MI6' dated from WW1, not WW2. It meant Military Intelligence Department 6 (there were at least 9). MI5 is officially The Security Service.

[@brettevill9055]

According to a book I have here (Philip H.J. Davies _MI6 and the Machinery of Spying_ ISBN 0-7146-8363-9) the Secret Service Bureau operated as MI11c during WWI, and was reorganised into a separate Security Service ("MI5") and Secret Intelligence Service ("MI6") after 1919 and by 1921 - in the same re-organisation that the SIS got liaison sections with the Foreign Office, Air Ministry, Admiralty, Treasury &c. instead of just the War Office.

[@MadMal2024]

As a Brit; let me just correct you on one point. MI6 is a late comer to the British Secret service. The CIVILIAN arm of the service has a far older history. Actually going back to the times of the Tudors; possibly earlier. The agents were in the employ of the British Sovereign in rule. It became a proper service in the reign of Elizabeth 1. the "Spies" reported directly to her on her express priority. This is why we refer to the service as His or Her Majesty's Secret Service. And to some extent the service still reports to the ruling Sovereign before Parliament and the Government in situ. MI6 as you alluded to is Military Intelligence (Now there is a contradiction in terms; and a whole different conversation). You are right about Service Operatives have to keep what they do secret. The British Secrecy act was modified during World War One; and again in World War Two and has some pretty dire consequences for anyone breaching it. During the reign of Elizabet the First; executions were one punishment... and those the Service considered "undesirables" could sometimes disappear without trace never to be heard of again... Ever. The British Secrets act is also connected to The National Security Legislations... And that does tie back to the creation of MI6; before MI^ the Military had their own Secret Service now commonly called MI5. Both have different major roles; but often share information. I'd rather not say much more; you don't know who is listening in.

[@tonys1636]

My copy of the OSA, signed early '70's has the death penalty as the ultimate sentence for Treason. Maybe more MP's and Civil Servants should reread their copies before tweeting. Enforcement appears non existent today. What was overheard being spoken in the rear of a Ministerial car would have definitely resulted in `hold the front page' called out by editors.

[@Poliss95]

@@tonys1636 The death penalty for High Treason was abolished in 1998.

[@tonys1636]

@@Poliss95 Not abolished just suspended, still on the statute so can be reinstated quickly (days not months) if required. The current OSA has long prison tariffs for breaches.

[@carltaylor6452]

I'd be surprised if the spies reported directly to Elizabeth I; she employed Walsingham for that.

[@lindsayheyes925]

MI6 was known as NID (Naval Intelligence Department). Based at Room 40, Admiralty Building, it was often called Room 40. The army had its own Intel Dept, which became I Corps, the Intelligence Corps. There was a hiatus in the early 1920s, when - having just had "the war to end all wars" - the British and US Governments cut all funding to intelligence activity. In Britain there was no resource even to destroy or archive NID's files, which ended up stored in Admiral "Blinker" Hall's cellar. Intelligence was handled ad hoc until both governments eventually came to their senses. It's easy to turn swords into plough shares. It's much more difficult to do the reverse.

[@notreallydavid]

SIS building was already up in the late 1980s - I could see it distantly from the lab I worked in in Denmark Hill. MI6 formally occupied it in 1984, as noted.

[@GaryWarren-gn8zg]

I knew an Mi6 agent, bloody good chap.

[@carolineskipper6976]

A friend of mine at University's father worked for GCHQ and we used laugh about the fact that in theory it was meant to be secret where their Listening Stations around the world were, but if you knew where my friend had lived growing up, then bingo!

[@Jimmy_Jones]

Did they live at each one or just a single location?

[@carolineskipper6976]

@@Jimmy_Jones Several locations.

[@Ubique2927]

You try filming the MI6 building!!!

[@dasy2k1]

Taking tourist photos from a distance is fine just don't linger too long.... Anyway who knows how much is actually run from that building.... Sure it's probably full of data analysts and office functions but it's far too flashy to house the really important stuff

[@peterjackson4763]

@@dasy2k1 I have been inside once, more than twenty years ago. It differed from a normal office in that it wasn't open plan.

[@iammyriad71]

Delta force are based on the British SAS and took their training methods over to the States.

[@andyleighton6969]

No doubt for brevity joint working with each other and other agencies only got a nod. "Cooperating" doesn't quite cover it, both UK and the US are members of the "5 Eyes" group. Whenever intelligence is shared between friendly powers it is "sanitised" to protect the level of knowledge, sources and methods of the originating organisation. The extent to which it is scrubbed depends in large part on how friendly and leak proof the other party is. Something is inevitably lost in translation. Within 5 Eyes information is shared, if not "as is" but significantly more fully. It is an "elite" club.

[@williebauld1007]

@@andyleighton6969 5 eyes, isn’t that, USA, Uk, Canada, Australia and New Zealand?

[@hughtube5154]

I thought MI5's US equivalent was Homeland Security? Or the NSA? The FBI seems more like the government's police force, also covering crimes unrelated to espionage and (internal) national security?

[@wessexdruid7598]

The NSA equates more to GCHQ.

[@theotherside8258]

I would have equated FBI to Special Branch and UK NCA

[@lindymcbroom953]

I LOVE THIS THIS CHANNEL YOU ARE AWESOME !

[@lindymcbroom953]

And yes the C.I.A Building looks like a shopping center!

[@richardwani2803]

In the UK we send in the SAS for hostage threats check out a video of the Iranian hostage crisis at the Iranian embassy in London

[@harrybarrow6222]

Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond books was in UK Naval Intelligence during WW2. John le Carre, the author of the more realistic books featuring George Smiley, that includes “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”, worked for both MI5 and MI6. 😎

[@wessexdruid7598]

Ian Fleming (PA & SOE liaison to the Director of Naval Intelligence) was personally involved in designing the Office for the Coordinator of Information in May 1941, for Col 'Wild Bill' Donovan. This then became the OSS - which then became the CIA. David Cornwell (aka John Le Carré) used some of the greatest true spy stories as his inspiration - although 'The Perfect Spy' seems to have been the most autobiographical.

[@brucebridges2189]

The history of British intelligence is long and filled with a surprising amount if politics and bureaucracy and interdepartmental cat fighting. For all that un WW2 SOE or the special operations executive was create from virtually scratch to becoming operationally active in around a year despite reporting to a minister Churchill despised.

[@philjameson292]

As both organizations are supposed to be secret then you shouldn't be able to answer the question 😊

[@zhukov43]

After 9/11 I interviewed with 6, went through regional form filling and vetting, then met with a few other people in big grilling interviews, if I could’ve afforded the pay cut, I’d probably have taken the job, you can’t live in London on those wages, well not very well anyway.

[@LonKirk]

Very good video. Thank you.

[@MoodyMarco-vj3oe]

The CIA do indeed have their own paramilitary section called the Special Activities Center

[@harrybarrow6222]

But does it have slides, swings, and a bouncy castle?😉

[@wessexdruid7598]

@@harrybarrow6222 Watch the film '13 hours (The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi)'.

[@iainmcculloch5807]

Honestly, we only know about their failures and the additional details they choose to tell us. Everything else is classified. I guess that's why we call it the *Secret* Intelligence Service. 😉

[@peterjackson4763]

There is an official history of British Intelligence. I have a copy. Obviously it doesn't cover recent times, but WW1 had passed the 70 limit on keeping the documents classified. My favourite bit is how MI5 developed a fantastic reputation at the start of WW1 when they arrested every German agent in Britain at the start of the war. The Germans thought they must be brilliant to do that so quickly. In truth MI5 got lucky and the Germans incompetent. One German agent aroused suspicions when asking questions at a pub near a naval base. He was reported to the police who passed it on to MI5. They started intercepting his mail and found he was sending reports to an address in Belgium. So they started intercepting all mail being sent to that address. It turned out that all German agents were sending their reports to that address and MI5 with a staff of about 8 were able to identify them and order their arrest when the war started.

[@Diovanlestat]

MI6 is just like me, sure, I believe you. I often pass that building. Trust me, I also work in a place where no-one can get in and nobody ever leaves. We're exactly the same. 🙄

[@UnknownUser-rb9pd]

MI6 were famous for using business people as agents on an ad hoc basis. So. not direct employees but people who visited foreign countries for trade and scientific research. They'd be asked to have a look at something or visit somewhere or even something as mudane as counting people visiting an office building while sitting in a cafe. Secondly. it should be noted that the CIA has a lot of monitoring facilities but the British have a separate organisation for that called GCHQ which has I believe more employees than MI6. Arguably it is more important as well and no doubt this comment and your video will have been picked up and run through their algorithms to determine if you are a threat.

[@JohnnieAshton]

Or Ballet Dancers, Dame Margot Fonteyn worked for them🤣😂🤣😂 I think it was in Mexico?

[@sh.4409]

Loads of the BBC work for them.

[@lindsayheyes925]

That's the difference between Officers and Agents.

[@Jaymat_flix]

Before this video, I actually thought it was a thing where you can't ever share your career with your family. Thanks for the truth.

[@teresafinch7790]

I used to catch a train often that stopped at Vaxhull, so when anyone got of there I'd like to think they were a spy.

[@frankmcgowan3371]

They have James Bond, we have Matt Helm. Whom would you rather have?

[@WiFiWombat]

What about Felix Leiter?

[@frankmcgowan3371]

@@WiFiWombat yeah he was better than Helm.

[@Raiment57]

Derek Flint!

[@thecritic81]

James Bond is NOT a secret agent because he tells anyone he meets that is James Bond, He regularly dresses in black tie.

[@patrickmcardle4771]

Oliver Cromwell started S.S. First.😂❤

[@davidlauder-qi5zv]

Wrong. Queen Elizabeth I had the first intelligence service.

[@TheJimbojetset1]

walked past MI6 a lot even when its sunny they walk in with umbrellas ,i mean im not a spy with this over my head

[@MabDarogan2]

Americans not attuned to the subtleties of world affairs? Who would ever believe that?

[@suzannejenkins210]

I know from first hand experience that 3 cia officers have used private US citizens as pawns and have abused me, my daughter and my oldest daughter, but my oldest was so abused by them, she killed herself, and I’ve been trying to get Justice ever since. I’ve turned in the 3 specific cia officers, but they’ve been able to obstruct Justice for over a decade

[@zeeblats]

The Institute for Justice do great work, they have a youtube channel but check their website first. They're a group of lawyers who take on cases that individuals cannot afford to persue due to legal costs, they survive off donations meaning they do not charge a fee.

[@wessexdruid7598]

Anne Sacoolas was a senior CIA officer when she killed 19 y.o. Harry Dunn outside RAF Croughton, in the UK. Originally pretending only to be the wife of a CIA officer, she was spirited out of the UK on a military flight by Trump's State Department, to avoid having to appear in court.

[@trueriver1950]

No surprises there, and sorry as I am to hear it, I am even more sorry to say you are far from unique. The US has a history of protecting not only it's intel staff from foreign law far beyond security requirements, but also immediate family When the wife of a US agent killed a British motorcyclist by driving on the right (because everywhere is America, right?) her US sponsored lawyer gave someone assurances that she would be reopening to the UK for a trial re dangerous driving. She jumped bail, and the US refused to return her to England. Eventually she was tried over video for the driving offence, but was never tried for the offence of jumping bail. Many US military personnel have been accused of rape or lesser sexual crimes while in the UK: the US consistently rotates them home if they report the details to their commanding officer. Obviously, they have the right to presumption of innocence unless they can be brought to trial, but the speed with which the US removes it's people out of jurisdiction shows that they believe at least some of them would be subject to "probable cause" if the same alteration was made in the States. And this happens in a nation that is an ally: I hate to think what happened in places like Afghanistan or Iraq which were not exactly allies...

[@lloydcollins6337]

The old CIA headquarters front reminds me of Lubyanka in Moscow, the home of the KGB

[@Kyrelel]

FSB

[@richardgriffiths2827]

mi5 & 6

[@davidlauder-qi5zv]

The building you show as Century House isn't. Try to get your photo info correct.

[@DaveAinsworth-y8h]

The CIA birthday is the same of United States Air Force.

[@swanvictor887]

The world's first, organized Intelligence agency was created by Sir Francis Walsingham for Queen Elizabeth the First.

[@alangknowles]

What? No Johnny English references?

[@0KiteEatingTree0]

I've oftern wondered why the US has both the CIA & FBI? We don't have the equivalent in the UK Although we do have MI5, GCHQ, plus the Defence Intelligence service. Which according to Wiki make up the Joint Intelligence Commitee

[@stevebarlow3154]

We do in fact have an equivalent agency to the FBI, it is called the NCA (the National Crime Agency). It deals with serious and organised crime. The FBI's remit on counter intelligence is mainly handled by the Security Service (MI5) in the UK. The CIA and FBI have different functions. The CIA is mainly about gathering foreign intelligence, though they do other things as well. The FBI primarily, but not exclusively, operates in the US. The majority of its work relates to serious and organised crime, like the NCA in the UK. It also performs counter intelligence work, like MI5 in the UK.

[@Stand663]

Omg I think everyone wanted to be James Bond. He pulled all the birds 😎

[@duncanclark7592]

@@Stand663 Word association, Plumber correctly has been lost, "Plumber" was internal joke. Random Operation names should be randomly chosen. Snobary on Operational names has its own flaws.

[@Poliss95]

I have a photo of me in front of the old KGB headquarters in Chisinau. 😁😁

[@andypandy9013]

The American who set up the US Intelligence Agencies based them on the British ones. His rationale was along the lines of "They work really well so why try to reinvent the wheel?". 🙂

[@53Zander]

schhhhh ....thank you xx

[@adamneal4786]

Look at pryzm and snowden

[@craiglogistics2092]

CIA's agent Felix Liter is not the same person all the time 'a man of many guises'

[@ronnieharford3326]

Keeping it a secret that you work for said agency from your immediate family is a load of crap! 😂😂

[@davidlauder-qi5zv]

It is keeping it a secret from everyone else that's important.

[@darkmatter6714]

Yes, the CIA is not allowed to collect information on citizens - that’s the job of the NSA

[@simonspeechley2859]

Are you going by the name 'Felicia Lightner' now? (ref to Felix)

[@theotherside8258]

I would have thought the biggest difference is political oversight and who they give allegiance to

[@Barlofontain]

"MI6 is more shrouded in secrecy and leans into the James Bond stereotype"... The secret agant who tells everyone his name, is known by every villain he faces, and is a borderline alcoholic?

[@davidlauder-qi5zv]

Agant?

[@Barlofontain]

@@davidlauder-qi5zv Its a really super secret version of an agent... definitely not a typo, nuh-uh

[@robinhazell6019]

No. The CIA actually organizes wars. During the Vietnam war, the CIA had a free hand to do what it wanted in LAOS, which was supposed to be a NEUTRAL country. The CIA also backed the CONTRAS against the Sandinistas of Nicaragua.

[@Kyrelel]

Not to mention arming the Taliban

[@sbjchef]

we prefer putting our fingers on the scales as opposed to blowing up the scales

[@iammyriad71]

🤔Why was it insecure...were the other nearby buildings mean to it??? 😜

[@adriangoodrich4306]

Do you know about the "Five Eyes"? The intelligence services of the US, The UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand share a great deal of intelligence, and work together in what is almost certainly the most effective and comprehensive global intelligence arrangement. I'm hopeful that Japan will soon join, so it becomes the Six Eyes - that could make it significantly more effective again.

[@notreallydavid]

That would be really good. It's useful to have eyes near the thing you want to look at

[@TukikoTroy]

Hope you are watching Slow Horses. Btw, you do realise that both these organisations now have a file with your name on it, right? Mwahahahahaha!

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

Even better are the old series, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", and "Smiley's People." "Spooks" wasn't bad, either, but is far less cerebral.

[@stevebarlow3154]

@@t.a.k.palfrey3882 John Le Carre was a MI6 officer in Germany.

[@kathrynabbott5032]

My family moved to Cheltenham in the mid 70’s - our next door neighbour worked for GCHQ (I remember him having some?radio equipment in his house). GCHQ in those days appeared to be a series single storey brick buildings behind a

[@Belzediel]

XD I think somewhere, somehow, you forgot what 'secret' means.

[@RedfishUK1964]

MI5 and MI6 Hqs are on opposite sides of the Thames - so they can keep an eye on the real enemy - each other!

[@stephenleighton6349]

The British one is called the sis , its been going since the 1500 !!!

[@redscouse7056]

Mi6 v cia, no contest the British did it all first and they got it right first time

[@karl9091]

Day-da, day-da day-da...I'll say no more. Cheers

[@noniousxltruffles7454]

The "MI" designation goes beyond 10 but those sections are SERIOUSLY niche operational purviews.

[@davidhines7592]

license to kill is called 'executive authority' in real life i believe

[@xabhax]

Mossad > *

[@postmodernmining]

CIA missed their target twice now.

[@edl653]

Playing video games a bit too much and following QAnon I would guess.

[@postmodernmining]

@@edl653 you're clearly a hoaxer

[@scoops0406]

I had an interview at MI5 (I'm not allowed to tell you that, but as I didn't get the role I don't suppose it matters) The only building I've ever entered with armed to the teeth security in reception.

[@stevebarlow3154]

I had a MI5 officer come and interview me, when as an ordinary Whitehall civil servant I wanted to work in a minister's office. He went through every aspect of my life, from primary school onwards. I use to have my lunch in what is now MI5 headquarters. There was a canteen and a bar in the basement of Thames House South on Millbank.

[@pilgrum23]

MI 6 was forme in 1906 it means military intelegance 6 there where 10 of mi originally James bond if the fiction of Ian Fleming who worked for royal navy the name James bond was of someone who study birds the real hero's where call osi who risked there live for all freedom must say like you vids as I send time both side of ponds

[@steverobinson2389]

Don’t be silly MI6 is the best 🇬🇧 Not that I am biased 😂

[@davidlauder-qi5zv]

The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) to give it its correct title.

[@PreceptorGrant]

The CIA can call in Delta Force if direct action is needed. No disrespect to Delta, they're highly skilled and serious people, a top-tier outfit. But if there's a terrorist threat in the UK that needs dealt with, we call in the SAS. They are widely recognised as the best in the business, they wrote the book.

[@Hunter-bt9xz]

A necesary evil god blesses to protect us all. From ourselves

[@mothmagic1]

The CIA has a nickname among the us forces. Collection of Ineffective Amateurs.

[@London-Lad]

PS, they choose to work with TRUE Psychopaths, only.

[@simonspeechley2859]

Famously the intelligence sharing is known as Five Eyes.

[@dallassukerkin6878]

Ahem ... it is Day-Ta not Dar-Ta ... if you cannot rectify this, please embark at your nearest airport for return the United States of Mispronounced English Words :p

[@chudchadanstud]

Mossad is King.