MI6 chief to stay on amid Brexit unrest
ALEX YOUNGER has agreed to become the longest-serving MI6 chief for 50 years as Downing Street attempts to maintain stability in its intelligence services amid the turmoil of Brexit.
As chief of the Secret Intelligence Service Mr Younger, 55, was due to retire in November after serving the traditional five-year tenure in the post.
But earlier this week Theresa May confirmed that Mr Younger would stay in post for at least another year on the recommendation of Sir Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary who also serves as Mrs May’s National Security Adviser.
A senior Whitehall source told The Daily Telegraph: “With so much of the Government’s attention being focused on the Brexit negotiations it was felt there was a need to maintain a degree of continuity and stability in the intelligence services.”
The extension of Mr Younger’s tenure, which Whitehall sources say could last for two years if Brexit negotiations are still continuing, would make him the longest serving “C”, the name used for the head of MI6 within Whitehall.
All of his immediate predecessors, Sir John Sawers, Sir John Scarlett and Sir Richard Dearlove served five-year terms.
However Sir Dick White, who was head of MI6 between 1956-1968 at the height of the Cold War, remains the service’s longest-serving chief.
Earlier this month Mr Younger suffered a personal tragedy when his 22-year-old son Sam, a student at Edinburgh University, died in a car accident on a private estate in Stirlingshire.
Mr Younger is highly regarded in Whitehall, and particularly impressed Mrs May with his handling of last year’s Salisbury poisoning, when agents from Russia’s GRU intelligence service attempted to assassinate former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with Novichok nerve agent.
Mr Younger joined MI6 in 1991 after serving as a commissioned officer in the Scots Guards. He served as an operational intelligence officer for MI6 in Europe and the Middle East, and was also the service’s station chief in Afghanistan during the Us-led coalition against the Taliban.
He is credited with restoring morale at MI6 after the restructuring undertaken by his predecessor Sir John Sawers, when significant numbers of senior officers left the service.
Whitehall officials believe his continuation as head of MI6 will help to reassure Britain’s European intelligence allies that normal cooperation procedures will be maintained throughout the Brexit process.
Apart from Russia, MI6’S main priorities at present are dealing with the aftermath of the so-called caliphate in Syria, and whether to allow Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant, access to Britain’s 5G mobile phone network.
Intelligence officials believe the vast majority of Russian “diplomats” were in fact serving members of Russia’s SVR overseas intelligence network, prompting Mrs May to claim that the move had “dismantled” Russia’s spy network.
But spy chiefs recently told The Daily Telegraph that they were concerned the SVR was actively seeking to rebuild its spying network in Britain, and disrupting Russian intelligence activities will be one of Mr Younger’s top priorities as he continues to head MI6.