A view of the headquarters of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, referred to as MI6, in London, Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
Kin Cheung/AP
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Kin Cheung/AP
The UK has a brand new method for individuals to share secrets and techniques with the nation’s international intelligence company.
It is known as Silent Courier, and it is being marketed on-line.
The service could be discovered on the darkish net, and permits potential spies to share categorized info with the U.Okay.’s Secret Intelligence Service — higher referred to as MI6 — securely. The nation’s Overseas Workplace, which oversees MI6, says the portal is being launched because the U.Okay. tries to recruit “potential new agents in Russia and around the world.”
That is sensible to former MI6 intelligence officer Matthew Dunn. He instructed NPR that Silent Courier may very well be utilized by international officers who in any other case could not meet with an MI6 handler, or sneak right into a British embassy.
“MI6 has always had the facility for what we call walk-ins. Traditionally, that is embassy driven,” he mentioned. “Sometimes, we have had gold dust intelligence as a result of defectors and the like.”
Silent Courier is a much less dangerous possibility, Dunn believes.
“The potential for somebody to think ‘thank goodness for that, I now have a mechanism to contact the organisation, [when] for various reasons I couldn’t physically face to face present my credentials,’ this enables that possibility,” he added.
Dunn additionally thinks it may very well be helpful for getting info associated to Russia’s warfare in Ukraine from these concerned within the battle, particularly if they are not being particularly focused by MI6.
“This is a complementary strategy that’s taking place and one that is clearly reflective of the nature of the world as [it] is right now,” Dunn mentioned.
MI6 is house to the fictional character James Bond, however potential double brokers need not channel the abilities of 007 to make use of Silent Courier.
A promotional video on YouTube explains tips on how to entry the service. The introduction is delivered by Sir Richard Moore, who served as MI6’s chief below the codename “C.” Moore lately retired, paving the way in which for Blaise Metreweli, the primary girl to steer the company.
A safety danger for the USA?
The convenience with which individuals may contact MI6, even from inside the USA, has raised considerations amongst intelligence veterans.
“I’m hopeful that there’s been complete coordination between the U.K. and the U.S.,” mentioned Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director of the FBI for counter-intelligence, the a part of the bureau answerable for catching spies working contained in the U.S.
“It’s the first time that I’ve seen the Brits do this as broadly as they appear to be doing it here, certainly using social media platforms and casting a wide net in their efforts to collect [intelligence],” Figliuzzi instructed NPR.
Each nations are members of the 5 Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, that means that info gathered by way of Silent Courier may, in idea, be shared with Washington. Approached by NPR for remark, Britain’s Overseas Workplace declined to touch upon that particularly, however added “the US is our closest ally, and we will continue to cooperate closely on defence, intelligence and security matters.”
The truth that MI6’s educational movies are accessible contained in the U.S. raised one other situation, Figliuzzi mentioned.
“This question of coordination becomes even more interesting if indeed someone inside the United States has decided ‘I think I’d rather deal with the Brits than with the Americans,’ for whatever reason, political or otherwise.”
Figliuzzi speculated that shifts in Washington may immediate that alternative.
“Have the Brits said, ‘look, it’s time for us to pick up any slack there,'” he mentioned. “The question of whether the Brits would tell us that a person inside our borders has chosen to deal with them, I hope that that’s the case. But in the dark world of cloak and dagger work, we may not know that ever, let alone in the short term.”
With Silent Courier, MI6 won’t have to ship James Bond to deal with it.
The radio model of this story was edited by Ashley Westerman, and the digital model was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.
