We ask “C”: how do intelligence services need to change in the 21st century?

IN HIS first public speech since he became chief of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, Richard Moore said the service needs to “become more open to stay secret.” On “The Economist Asks” podcast, host Anne McElvoy and Shashank Joshi, The Economist’s defence editor, ask Mr Moore exactly what that means in practice.

The spymaster, whose position is traditionally referred to simply as “C”, describes the “entrepreneurial animal spirits” he hopes to attract by lifting the veil on MI6’s plans and challenges. Can partnering with technological talent lend British intelligence the heft it needs to punch above its weight against larger rivals like Russia and China?

China, Mr Moore says, is the service’s most pressing priority. Alongside what he calls the “key battleground” and exponentially-growing “digital attack surface” of technology and data-gathering, debt traps threaten to slowly erode the sovereignty of other states as China garners ever-more influence in emerging markets.

A key challenge, he says, will be to assert and defend Western democratic values while securing China’s “cooperation on the key transnational issues”, including “the biggest issue of all”—climate change.

Listen to the interview:

The Economist’s hosts also ask Mr Moore what he thinks Vladimir Putin’s next steps might be as he amasses military forces around Ukraine, and how the twin threats from Russia and China can be managed in tandem.

“Vladimir Putin...really does think that Russia, in the 21st century, has the right to impose limits on the sovereignty of the countries on its periphery,” he says. “And that’s a problem.” Still, he adds, Mr Putin runs the risk of underestimating his counterparts in Washington.

Despite a strong focus on technology, the business of intelligence is “still, fundamentally a question of building a relationship with a fellow human being,” he says. “That hasn’t changed. So I need officers who can build trust with people who are taking significant risks to work with us.” But as adversaries build up extraordinary surveillance capabilities, and after the heavily-publicised assassinations by Russian operatives, we ask Mr Moore how British intelligence services continue to guarantee protection to their agents.

On the podcast, Mr Moore also describes the key lessons from the last two decades of counter-terrorism, as the campaign in Afghanistan ends in failure, and his hopes for reining in Iran’s nuclear capabilities amid faltering talks. And, having apologised to the LGBT+ community for historical rules prohibiting gay people from serving in intelligence, he describes his determination to counter the myths surrounding MI6 and “to be the last chief selected from an all male, white, straight shortlist.”

To hear more, and to learn what the real-life “C” makes of his big-screen counterpart “M” in the James Bond films, listen to the full interview on “The Economist Asks” podcast.

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