TIMESONLINE: The intelligence service MI5 has teamed up with Britain’s leading gay lobby group to recruit more homosexuals and to encourage spies to be open about their sexuality.
MI5, which targets home-grown terrorists and foreign spies, has hired Stonewall to advise on how it can attract a broader range of applicants.
Until the early 1990s gays were barred from sensitive government jobs because of fears that they would be vulnerable to blackmail. The ban followed revelations about the notorious Cambridge spy ring, the 1950s group of Cambridge graduates who worked in the intelligence service. Two of the ringleaders, Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt, were both gay.
This year MI5 will appear in Stonewall’s graduate recruitment guide, which lists gay-friendly employers.
Since the London Underground bombings on July 7, 2005 MI5 has been expanding rapidly. Staff numbers are expected to hit 3,500 by the end of the year, up from 1,500 in 2001.
The drive to recruit British Muslims and speakers of Asian languages has been well reported, but MI5’s targeting of the gay community will come as something of a surprise.
Ben Summerskill, director of Stonewall, said: “I am optimistic that in 10 to 15 years their [MI5’s] employment profile will look very much like modern Britain. There is no reason why there shouldn’t be a lesbian or gay director-general.” Spies Urged to Come In from the Closet >>> By Jonathan Oliver | August 17, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
