Has anyone met a secret agent or mi5

[Overwhelmed245]

Has anyone met one like do you suspect your partner to be one etc. obviously I know you hear of woman being told the guy there dating works for mi5 but then find out the guy has two lives and another family

*often act as referee

We were on a train from Moscow to St Petersburg with friends from Texas and a young man inveigled himself into our conversation in the buffet car. As time went on it was clear that he was not answering our questions honestly and was very interested in our friend’s job - he was an engineer. We all beat a hasty retreat but the man kept an eye on us till we got off the train. For all we know, we were tailed in St Petersburg. We all agreed that he was from the FRS (KGB). In retrospect I wondered if Russia still bugs hotel rooms?

My relative was, retired now. Lived in the Middle East for years. Interesting to watch him in a room, at an event, he knows exactly where everyone and everything is. Then he catches me watching him, I would be a useless spy

@jeannie46

Once knew a chap who'd led/recruited /organised volunteers for a spy network /sabotage behind German Lines in WW2. Quiet, unassuming ( but excellent linguist ) - the antithesis of James Bond. I'd have guessed a librarian maybe. I asked him how on earth you recruited people for such a dangerous job - he said 'you have to talk to them'!?

Then another chap who was airlifted into Belgium to link up with the Resistance - very quietly spoken - link was a little late for the rendez-vous as he'd been executing one of the team who'd been betraying them to the Germans - became a Primary School head.

Finally a somewhat sweet 'dizzy ' woman who'd been part of a WW2 'safe house' network in Paris. I guess her 'dizziness' was cultivated to protect herself. She was just a teenage student when someone knocked on her door one night and asked if he could come in as the Gestapo were after him. As she said, she had about half a second to decide whether to send him to certain death ( or much worse) or whether to let him in and start a desperately dangerous life for herself.

In awe of them all.

I find it fascinating reading the biographies of SoE operatives/resistance members. Some of them had quite 'exotic' careers before the war but lots of then are such ordinary people (except generally for a language skills) who stepped up in extraordinary circumstances. I also find myself in awe of them - not least because I know I couldn't say, hand on heart, that I would be able to do what they did.

I think being an agent would be quite hard mentally because, as I understand it, you are usually recruiting others to pass information to you rather than sneaking in James Bond style. I am not sure I could do that knowing that I am asking that person to put themselves at risk.

I knew a woman whose husband worked for GHCQ. She role is she has to go through a very rigorous vetting process when they moved in together. He would get calls in the middle of the night and be speaking Russian. Disappear for long periods. She said he was one of the chief people who cracked the London Underground bombing. I really don’t think she should have been talking about it the way she did. It was years ago now.

My husband used to work for gchq and had top security clearance. Occasionally they shared an office space with MI5 and I met a few of them for drinks after work.

Lol if someone tells you they are then they arnt . It's that simple . The only exception is if they are now retired . Even then be doubtful !

I havent met any that I'm aware of, but I have a theory that the cryptic comments that Victoria Coren Mitchell makes at the end of each episode of Only Connect are coded messages for the Secret Service...

Have suspicions about two chaps dh went to uni with. Would never ask and they would never tell.

I have been positively vetted in relation to dh's job and at around the same time there was a peculiar caller at the house and a peculiar exchange in a queue which looking back I think was connected.

Strangely have had a few men I have only just met confide in me that they work for M15 and/or SAS.

Wouldn’t suspect it at all I guess it’s such a burden then need to tell someone

I must have a trusting face

Yes I have! I was the coordinator for a government project a few years ago. On the team were high-ranking police officers and 2 members of MI5 (CPNI).

Both of the CPNI guys were highly intelligent. One was older and very nerdy, the younger one was extremely good-looking. He was married with a child, which is all I knew about him after 7 years working together.

@121hugsneeded

Lol if someone tells you they are then they arnt . It's that simple . The only exception is if they are now retired . Even then be doubtful !

Quite.

Like in the first series of Spooks when Keeley Hawes' lines were "I'm a secret agent for HM govt" or something similar that no officer ever, has said.

I worked in a govt dept about thirty years ago and was offered secondment into what was called the "locked room" department (liaison between us and "them") but I turned it down because I didn't think I'd get through the additional vetting.

They're all really normal people though. Some of the ones back then acted a bit too much like they thought they were George Smilie but by and large bogstandard civil servants.

Yes - through work, and through our living situation, and through living next to a palace as well.

My dads old neighbour was in the Intelligence Corps in Ww2. He could speak several languages including Swahili.

Dad often helped him out as he was in his 90s, one morning the old man didn't appear so Dad let himself in & he'd sadly had a stroke... Dad had to hide the ww2 era pistol that was on the bedside table before the ambulance arrived!!

Probably, I had to go for a meeting at Thames House as a union rep a few years ago.

When I worked for No 10 though I had to have a new DBS and developed vetting. My DBS certificates requestor details are recorded as MI5.

DH and I have both been vetted because of where a family member works. I know what they do. It is dull and mundane.

A relative. They had a mundane lowish paid job immediately prior to retirement but before that moved around a lot and worked in a job that seemed to not at all match their level of capability. Fiercely intelligent and spoke four languages fluently, although this was very much downplayed too.

I have a suspicion that one of my friends is a spy! Would never ask but he's had a number of random jobs, was in the TA for years and worked for DoE awards, and always seems to be working in foreign countries etc. The last time my DH met him for lunch, he said that he's started learning Arabic in his spare time, for a hobby.

I suspect that a relative of mine worked in this field. Sadly, he died recently but I wonder if this means it may be possible to find out for sure? Does anyone have any idea if this would be permissable? Our family wouldn't be looking for any details, just confirmation.

When we were all being told not to worry about Covid back in February 2020 , a friend of a friend (who happens to be clinically vulnerable) got a call from a distant relative who had some kind of civil service job to say that she needed to stay away from crowded places & that it was all looking to be a lot worse than we were being told at that point. Not really a spy story but it’s always fascinating (and scary) to think about what goes on behind the scenes..

The languages thing is very interesting. In my dept I did some transcription work, and then prior to being "invited" to be seconded, I was one of three "invited" out of the blue to do Russian lessons, taken, coincidentally, by one of the locked room people.
I never told my Mum I turned it down.

I speak Arabic and Russian. Maybe I missed my calling...

@Tehmina23

I suspect a woman I know of being M16... She works in a mundane low paid job.. she & her friend are widows in their 60s who are very ordinary yet travel regularly to fairly hostile countries taking lots of photos of 'scenery'.

She's been to Syria, Myanmar, most recently Iran, China, Russia, her next trip will be Iraq! I asked her why and she said to take photos of scenery of course!!

Hmmm.

My Mum (late 70s) has been to Myanmar, China, Russia amongst lot of other places. I don't think that she can be a spy or an agent though as I don't think Ireland has an intelligence service, or if they do it's very secret indeed.