MI6 fills spy gap with OAP agents

MI6 is persuading retired spies, some in their sixties, to return to Her Majesty’s Secret Service to help to fight the war on terror - reports the Sunday Times.

Known in the service as “retreads”, a waspish reference to reconditioned car tyres, dozens of spies are being invited to re-enlist. The recruitment drive, combined with a fresh intake of young officers, is expected to push numbers of IB (Intelligence Branch) staff to levels not seen since the cold war.

MI6 is receiving millions of pounds in extra funding but, like MI5, the domestic security agency, it is struggling to recruit and train officers fast enough.

Spies normally retire at 55 but some of the “retreads” will be old enough soon to qualify for free bus passes.

One officer in his sixties, an Arabist who served on three continents, has been reassigned to Africa where he was once posted. “It is not a frontline job, but it frees up someone younger,” said an insider.

MI6’s former head of station in Helsinki has been persuaded to keep working at 57. None is yet as old as James Bond, Britain’s most famous fictional spy, who was 84 this month — and still going strong, albeit in a celluloid form.

An MI6 officer at Vauxhall Cross, the agency’s London headquarters, who normally helps to settle retiring spies in the outside world, is now calling them back. It has long been custom and practice to use officers older than 55 in administrative and training roles, usually part-time, but a growing number are being asked to carry out operational duties.

“After years of neglect Britain’s intelligence agencies have been put in a position of asking cold war warriors to fight a war on terror,” said Patrick Mercer, Conservative spokesman for homeland security.

Other countries are also struggling to expand their agencies. President George W Bush has ordered the CIA to increase its “clandestine operators” and intelligence analysts by 50%.

Thanks to `JP` for the alert.

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