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Secret Intelligence Service MI6


In this version of the SIS armorial bearings, the arms portray a grey brain, contained within a green ‘C’. The Royal Crown surmounts the arms. The motto: 'Semper Occultus'

The brain represents intellectual power and intelligence and the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge. The green ‘C’ is an allusion to the founder of SIS -- and original ‘C’ -- Sir Mansfield Cumming. The tradition of the Service is that all Chiefs are known as ‘C’ and sign their documents using green ink. The motto: 'Semper Occultus' ­ ‘Always secret’ refers to the ethos of the Secret Intelligence Service.

The Secret Intelligence Service, sometimes known as MI6, originated in 1909 as the Foreign Section of the Secret Service Bureau, under RNR Commander, later Captain, Sir Mansfield Cumming, which was responsible for gathering intelligence overseas. By 1922 Cumming's section had become a separate Service with the title SIS. Cumming signed himself 'C'; his successors have done so ever since.

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was established in 1940, partly from the then Section D of SIS. After the War it was disbanded and some of its members were reabsorbed into SIS.

With the passing of the Intelligence Services Act, SIS was placed on a statutory footing under the Foreign & Commonwealth Secretary to whom it is responsible for all aspects of its work. The Act defines the functions of the Service and the responsibilities of its Chief, as well as establishing control and oversight arrangements. The Service's principal role is the production of secret intelligence in support of Her Majesty's Government's security, defence, foreign and economic policies within the framework of requirements laid upon it by the JIC and approved by Ministers. It meets these JIC requirements for intelligence gathering and other tasks through a variety of sources, human and technical, and by liaison with a wide range of foreign intelligence and security services. Specific operations are subject to longstanding procedures for official and ministerial clearance.

As the CIA is known as "The Company," SIS is known internally as "The Firm" and to other agencies as "The Friends." SIS is based at 85 Albert Embankment, Vauxhall Cross in London (known to those who work there as "Legoland"). MI6 also paid for a number of telephones located in a busy street in south London (Borough High Street in Southwark, opposite the Police Station) which has been identified as the spy training centre. The main training centre is Fort Monckton, a Napoleonic fort on the south coast at Gosport in Hampshire. What is thought to have been MI6's former City of London office is located in an office block in the Square Mile.


An aerial shot of the former SIS HQ, Century House, in Lambeth


"Legoland"
85 Vauxhall Cross, London, SE1, England -- Current SIS HQ


Soviet satellite shot of Fort Monckton SIS Training Base


Entrance to Fort Monckton


SIS (MI6) Technical Security Department ­- Hanslope Park

The Service employed 2,300 staff as of March 1994, with a reported annual budget of some £150M, though these numbers have declined somewhat in recent years.

On 1 September 1999, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook confirmed the appointment of Sir Richard B. Dearlove KCMG, OBE as Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, succeeding Sir David Spedding. Sir David, 58, a Middle East authority who served as head of SIS for five years before retiring in 1999, died of lung cancer on June 13, 2001.

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