MI5: Security Service
MI5's first responsibility since its founding in 1909 has been to counter penetration of UK organisations by foreign intelligence services. It has gained a wider remit covering national security issues, much of its resources today being focussed on Northern Ireland and the fight against the IRA there and on the mainland.
Director-General Stella Rimington sought to expand the Security Service's mandate to include organised crime, including drugs, immigration, and even benefit fraud. Despite police objections and fear that MI5 was not an appropriate organisation to be involved in these matters, Parliament supported the widening of their role.
The Security Service recently returned to the old headquarters it occupied a few decades ago in central London, not far from the Palace of Westminster. Today 1,850 people work for MI5, down from 2,150 a couple of years ago, and the agency has a budget of £200M. Stella Rimington, previous holder of the £95,000 post of Director-General, was replaced by Stephen Lander on 9 April 1996.
Follow this link for further information on MI5.
MI6: Secret Intelligence Service
MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, came into being in 1911 to undertake espionage activities overseas. Today its role is defined by the Intelligence Services Act 1994 as "to obtain and provide information relating to the actions or intentions of persons outside the British Islands, and perform other tasks relating to these in relation to the interests of national security".
The SIS is located at Vauxhall Cross in London, and its chief since September 1994 has been David Spedding, who previously specialised in the Middle East. MI6 employed 2,303 staff in March 1994, and has been reported to have an annual budget of £150M, although these numbers can be expected to decrease with the end of the cold war.
The focus of MI6's activities has been the Russian threat, but this has now been cut back significantly, and its operational effort in the CIS has been reduced by two-thirds. It has been reported that the Russian intelligence services have been renewing their efforts to post officers to London, and in May 1996 tit-for-tat expulsions of four embassy staff each took place.
Follow this link for further information on MI6.
Where to find them
MI5 and MI6 offices in central London
MI5's headquarters is Thames House on Millbank, a modernised listed building located on the south-west end of Lambeth Bridge. In the main entrance you will observe a closed-circuit TV camera directed aggressively at passers-by.
MI6's head office is a rather unusual-looking edifice on Vauxhall Cross, immediately apparent on exiting the tube station. The new £200M million building was designed by architect Terry Farrell.
How to contact them
MI5 and MI6 are usually contacted by post. MI5 also publishes a "hotline" telephone number. Neither MI5 nor MI6 give out email addresses.MI5's postal address is;
MI5 / Security Service PO Box 3255 London SW1P 1AE EnglandThe telephone hotline number for MI5 was given on the front page of The Times of March 11, 1998, in article which says the number is intended for "terrorists, spies and serious criminals" and not "ordinary members of the public". The number will be manned initially from 7.30am to 11.30pm British time, and is;
020-7930-9000MI6's postal address, as given by the British Foreign Office, is;
MI6 / SIS PO Box 1300 London SE1 1BD England
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