A current MI6 spy has revealed his job is “more exciting than James Bond”. The spy known as Kwame became the first black spy to give a broadcast interview this morning, saying he had seen “way more than what you see in the spy movies”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 1Xtra as part of a recruitment drive at the British spy agency, he said depictions that spies are middle-class white men were “not true” saying the intelligence service was filled with people from a variety of backgrounds.
Much like in the Bond films, MI6’s role is to stop terrorism, disrupt the activity of hostile states and improve the country’s cyber security.
Kwame told the BBC: “I’ve seen some of the coolest stuff. Things that will blow your mind. You have to be in it to see it.”
The spy is based in MI6’s organisational development team and said the purpose of his rare interview was to tell people that anyone could become a spy.
He added: “The issue is if you talk about James Bond it gives you a different connotation.
“I’m afraid it makes you think that everyone who works here is a white, middle-class male, who is driving an Aston Martin, who likes women and all that. But that’s not true.
“You can see that’s not necessarily true about me. We want to reach out to all the brothers and sisters out there and say actually SIS, MI6, it’s a place for you.”
He went on to say that the role of Q in the films was actually a real role, with the department headed up by two women.
Kwame said: “We’ve got a whole line of Qs doing really cool stuff in the tech space who are women.”
The only named person working in MI6 is Sir Richard Moore, the agency’s head, with all others working under the condition of anonymity.
Kwame said he had told his wife and his sister where he worked, though not his young children. Adding that while working for the agency was well paid, his real reason for working there was the impact he is able to have.
He concluded: “Ultimately, our mission is about protecting the UK [and] protecting the people of the UK.”
