LONDON: Britain’s foreign spy master, who at times quoted Machiavelli and fought off demands to ease secrecy around his MI6 intelligence agency, will step down in November after five years, the Foreign Office said yesterday.
John Sawers, an ex-career diplomat, became the first outsider to head the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in 41 years when he took over in November 2009 under then-prime minister Gordon Brown.
MI6, cast by novelists as the employer of some of the most memorable fictional spies from John le Carré’s George Smiley to Ian Fleming’s James Bond, operates overseas and is tasked with defending Britain and its interests.
Sawers, who argued that Al Qaeda and its affiliates posed the biggest threat to Britain, is believed to have wanted to relinquish his sensitive role before a national election next year. MI6 chiefs normally serve about five years. Sawer’s is the only name in the SIS that is not secret.
Reuters
