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

I also may applied for a job at GCHQ - the only thing that changed my mind was the print at the bottom that said not in these exact words but roughly “you must not disclose to anyone that you are attending this interview, if you must tell someone for any reason it must be one trustworthy family member such as a spouse/partner”

This put me off because I’d already screenshot and discussed applying for the job with my 8 people group family chat. I’d make the worst spy ever.

Me and my boyfriend are now convinced a mutual friend is CIA. He’s ‘an IT guy’.

We both knew him before we met. A few things didn’t add up and he often went overseas for work. I told him one day that I was planning a trip to somewhere random in Africa. He went mad, told me not to go to XYZ, and to just trust him on it. A few weeks later, multiple European tourists were murdered in an al Shabab attack at the hotel I was planning on going to.

My boyfriend knew him too in the US before they both moved here, and went to buy guns one day (boyfriend is ex military) His gun license doesn’t match the passport that he uses, and he has 3 passports of different nationalities (I’ve seen two, as I’ve travelled with him a lot). Boyfriend has met his parents - they’re both Amish, ans most definitely American. How does someone Amish grow up to the ‘an IT guy’ with passports from 3 countries, and know to warn me against going to a specific hotel weeks before an attack.

Of course, we established this about 75% of the way down a bottle of jack daniels so we may have talked ourselves into it. But we never refer to him by name now, we refer to him only as ‘CIA guy’

I'm convinced a friend does. Obviously they've not told me!

@HetHetHet I believe that once deceased you can request knowledge of their job and they will tell you the truth.

Oh, I knew a few CIA people too - they were quite open about it though in some cases.

DS applied for a graduate scheme and was accepted but turned it down as he didn't want to go to live in London.

Yes, an ex's father. He's dead now (natural causes).

Use to work with a woman whose husband worked for the equivalent to mi5 in another country. The party line was he worked in IT as a contractor so didn’t have a set employer, all very reasonable. They have always had zero social media presence and very off the grid kind of lives. We’d socialise regularly and I didn’t question anything as him and my nerdy husband got on well and talked about nerdy stuff all the time. It was only when he left and got what can only be described as a dream job (travelling to exotic places, my friend included) that my friend told me about his previous job. He was in IT so not a lie but it was for the countries mi5 equivalent. She had absolutely no reason to lie to me and she really wasn’t the sort of person to lie. We sat next to each other for 2 years and were very close, she always felt uncomfortable talking about his work until he changed jobs so I really do think she was telling me the truth.

A friend of mine is in the military and she was approached recently by the intelligence service.

She said basically they wanted her because she's average height and weight. Good looking enough to be able to use it to her advantage if needed but not so good looking she'd attract attention. Her colouring could also be made to look like a number of ethnicities if needed.

She declined because she feels she's earning enough money right now in a fairly safe job and didn't fancy having higher risk missions than she already has as active military personnel.

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar, Ireland does indeed have an intelligence service as how could it not, with the Troubles? but it's a sort of shared unit between the army/navy/air corps and Garda divisions like the SDU and counter-terrorism units.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directorate_of_Military_Intelligence_(Ireland)#:~:text=The%20Directorate%20of%20Military%20Intelligence,national%20intelligence%20service%20of%20Ireland.

Having said that, I've been to China, Russia, Yemen, Iran and Syria myself, and I can assure you I don't work for the DMI.

@kirlali

Yes, twice, possibly thrice. The first time I was laying some flowers after a stabbing attack in Sydney CBD. A tall young blonde man came and asked me some questions. He was so obviously intelligence.

The second time was when we were visiting my SiL in Thailand. She's a US consular official and we went to the embassy for an easter egg hunt. The next day a tall blonde young man came around to 'meet the family'. He was very obviously intelligence too.

The third time was the one I am least sure about but when I felt most threatened. I am a hair and makeup artist. I trudge around with large bags. One evening I agreed to meet my daughter at a Queen Victoria statue in Sydney CBD. As I had caught the train in that day, I had my large bags with me. I was sitting at the base of the statue and this man in a navy jacket was walking past and giving me furtive looks. Then he did it again. And at a distance, again. Then he was on his phone and still glancing occasionally over. He looked like a trained killer. For the government type.

This all sounds quite mad. You are massively over-interpreting the random appearance of 'tall blonde young men' -- how were they 'obviously intelligence'? And a man who 'looked like a trained killer' looked funny at you in a public place?

Yes, family friend. We all knew what he did, but not what he actually did, iyswim. He even got an OBE, but it was down as some thing mundane like 'services to the Govt' or something.
Again, hugely intelligent and spoke many languages. Probably retired now.

Really not unusual to have three passports - its permitted in the UK.

I have two UK passports - but it's for work travel to conflicting areas.

Of course, that makes sense HareIsland, and they would have needed to gather intelligence from various foreign countries in order to know from where arms were getting into NI?

@ExJasper

No but I think I'd be a good one. I am the epitomy of forgettable and pedestrian, and I think an overweight middle aged woman could get away with a lot!

. Your cover is blown; now ve hev to keel you.

Did anyone watch Spy (the TV show where people tried / learned to be spies)? It was really good. One woman totally blew her cover in a bugged hotel room talking out loud to herself about HQ not phoning, then calling her handler and giving everything away.

NC for this as don't want any links to my usual profile.

I suspect a few.

Friends boyfriend worked for the Foreign Office. He was very average height, weight, appearance etc and worked on their IT helpdesk, yet was sent on lots of overseas postings.

Another ex-colleague also went to work at the Foreign Office and someone came to my house to interview me for her deep vetting. Again she was very average but super-bright. She has since changed employer but doesn't discuss anything about her time at the Foreign Office.

And I am related to The Fifth Man but only met him as a child.

A little mystery about friend of Mums daughter who worked for them. One day her husband phoned and said he just got home and she'd cleared off with all the furniture and he was getting a private detective. Years ago now mum has moved and not said where. Witness protection?

Yes, dh has 2 UK passports due to conflicting stamps. He travels the world for work and spends a lot of time in the middle East Inc Iran. USA and Israel don't like Iranian and Syrian stamps. Pretty sure he's not a spy. I think spies can tell their spouses about their real job. If he is a spy he's very good.

I was once introduced to a friend of a family member and they said he was a spy. He looked absolutely horrified and pissed off at the intro, but if he was he needs to work on his poker face :)

I got to the final stages of an interview for a spy at mi5 so I assume some of the interviewers at some stages must have been spies too.

They told me to say my interviews were for the civil service. So I always imagine civil servants are spies

It's such a red flag if someone tells you that they are, especially in early stages of dating! The mark ackholm story serialised in the DM at the moment is interesting though!
But I would never actually believe someone who said that they were!

Yes a neighbour who died in his 90s - it came out at his memorial service! The congregation just sat there with their mouths open 😀 I'd known him for over 15 years and never suspected! He had been involved behind the scenes in several high profile incidents. A lovely perfect unassuming gentleman.