Special Sub-Topic: The British Intelligence Services Click Here To Play: The British Intelligence Services

What was GCHQ previously known as?

GCCS. GCHQ were previously known as Government Code and Cipher School. GC&CS were responsible for communications and decrypting messages. The most famous example of this was when the British decrypted the ENIGMA Machine messages in the Second World War.

What is the codename for the head of MI6?

C. The Codename for the head of MI6 is "C". The name came from Sir Mansfield Cumming who was the first boss of MI6. Allegedly the head of MI6 always writes in green ink and signs any documents with the name C.

What is the official name of MI5?

Security Service. MI5 deals with threats to national security. They work closely with many law enforcment agencies such as Special Branch, GCHQ and the police.

What is the official name of MI6?

Secret Intelligence Service. MI6 counters threats from abroad. The existence of MI6 was not formely recognised until 1994 though many people assumed that it existed before then.

What is the official home of MI6 headquarters?

Vauxhall Cross. Vauxhall cross has been the HQ of MI6 since 1995. It sits on the embankment of the Thames in London. It was rumored to cost around £130 million to build. Much of the building is below ground to protect the most sensitive areas, while the layout of the building is protected by the Official Secrets Act.

What does GCHQ stand for?

Government Communications Headquarters. GCHQ has two missions - signals intelligence (sigint) and information assurance. Sigint works to provide the government with information to help stop terrorism and serious crime and information assurance works to protect British infrastructure, making sure critical networks (water, communications, power) are safe from hackers and viruses.

What was the special section of MI6 during the Second World War?

Special Operations Executive (SOE). The SOE was a branch of MI6, specially created in 1940 for the Second World War. The function of the SOE was espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines and to provide information about the enemy. The SOE was officially dissolved in 1946 but most of its resources went back into MI6.

When was the Secret Service Bureau formed?

1909. Captain Vernon Kell and Captain Mansfield Cumming jointly established the Secret Service Bureau to counteract German espionage. Kell was in charge of intelligence within the British Isles and Cumming was in charge of foreign intelligence. They later split into MI5 and MI6.

What were the five British spies who passed sensitive information to the USSR in the early 1950s called?

The Cambridge Five. The Cambridge Five were Kim Philby, Donald Duart Maclean, Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt, though speculation ran for many years as to the identity of the fifth member. Now however it is widely accepted that there were more then five members since three other people have confessed and there are many more suspected. The group apparently originated from a secret society at Cambridge.

How many Military Intellignece Services have there been including MI5 and MI6

19. They ranged from MI11 which was responsible for codebreaking, MI2 which dealt with Russian and Scandinavian intelligence and MI4 which handled aerial reconnaissance. All these services have been dissolved or absorbed into MI5 and MI6 as it is only these two still in existence (officially).