Being a British spy is more exciting than this apparently (Picture: MGM/Eon/ Danjaq/UPI/ Kobal/ Shutterstock)
Most of us assume that jobs in real life are a little more pedestrian than what’s portrayed on screen.
And, on the whole, we’re probably right. But according to one British spy, working for M16 is even more thrilling than the James Bond movies suggest.
The officer, who only gave his name as Kwame, says he’s seen ‘way more than what you see in the spy movies’.
Kwame was speaking as part of a recruitment drive, so we might want to take it with a pinch of salt, but he told BBC Radio 1Xtra: ‘It’s more exciting than James Bond.
‘I’ve seen some of the coolest stuff. Things that will blow your mind.
‘You have to be in it to see it.’
Kwame, the first black spy to give a broadcast interview, is part of a drive to enlist more people from black and Asian backgrounds.
The MI6 headquarters in London are not just full of white, middleclass men, says Kwame (Picture: Getty Images)
He said popular depictions of M16, like James Bond, mean many people assume the service is just for those who are ‘white, middle class, and male’, but insisted this wasn’t the case.
‘You can see that’s not necessarily true about me. We want to reach out to all the brothers and sisters out there and say actually SIS [Secret Intelligence Service], MI6, it’s a place for you.’
He added that the real-life Q – the agency’s head of technology – is a woman, as is her deputy and many others in the department.
Everyone apart from the head of MI6, Sir Richard More, must remain anonymous when working for the agency.
Women at MI6 are some of the smartest minds at the agency, says Kwame – something not always portrayed in the Bond films (Picture: Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/Shutterstock)
Kwame, who described himself as the director of organisational development, said his wife knows what he does, but not his young children.
He explained that while working for M16 is well-paid, his main reason for joining was to make an impact by helping protect the UK and its residents.
M16 is the UK’s foreign intelligence service, the counterpart to M15 which works solely with domestic intelligence.
MI6 is tasked with collecting and analyse foreign intelligence to improve the country’s security.
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