Security News > 2021 > December > UK intel chief says MI6 must outsource innovation – and James Bond's in-house 'Q' is nonsense

The head of the UK's secretive Military Intelligence Section 6 agency - popularly known as MI6 - has delivered a rare speech in which he has warned that China, Iran, and Russia use information technology to destabilise rivals, and that the agency he leads can no longer rely on in-house innovation to develop the technologies the UK needs to defend itself.

MI6 boss Richard Moore delivered a speech on Thursday at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and opened with an explanation of why the normally reclusive agency had taken the unusual step of allowing its leader to speak in public.

Society may not have pondered what that means, but "It is a white-hot focus for MI6".

Despite technology's growing role in threats, Moore argued that MI6's speciality in human intelligence - recruitment and ongoing engagement with clandestine agents in other countries - remains a critical intelligence tool.

To combat those foes, MI6 is "Pursuing partnerships with the tech community to help develop world-class technologies to solve our biggest mission problems".

The speech does not touch on what MI6 thinks is an appropriate attitude to Santa Claus.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/12/01/mi6_chief_richard_moore_speech/