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The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), often known as MI6, was founded in 1909 as part of the Secret Service Bureau to handle foreign espionage, primarily focusing on threats from Imperial Germany.
Led initially by Mansfield Cumming (known as “C”), the agency evolved through both World Wars to become a central pillar of British intelligence, focusing on intelligence gathering and covert operations.
Key historical aspects of the SIS (1909–1949) according to Keith Jeffery’s history:
- Foundation: Established in July 1909 as the foreign section of the Secret Service Bureau, driven by concerns over Germany’s growing power.
- Leadership: The first director, Captain Mansfield Cumming, established a tradition of signing documents with a green ink “C”, a convention for the chief of the service.
- World Wars: The service expanded significantly during both wars, with World War II acting as a “golden age” where personnel numbers increased from under 100 to nearly 1,000.
- Key Operations: Early successes included the La Dame Blanche organization during WWI. Later, the service faced challenges like the “Venlo Incident” (1939) and postwar scandals.
- Operational Scope: Beyond intelligence collection, the service acted as a foreign policy tool, involved in covert actions to protect British interests, particularly during decolonization.
The history of the service was notably detailed by Prof. Keith Jeffery in 2010, who was granted unprecedented access to closed, official archives, covering the formative years from 1909 to 1949.
