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I Spy

Time was, recruiting for the British secret service was a cloak-and-dagger affair. But in a competitive employment market, Britain’s MI6 has begun a slick marketing campaign.


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Time was, recruiting for the British secret service was a cloak-and-dagger affair. But in a competitive employment market, Britain’s MI6—also known as the Secret Intelligence Service—has begun a slick marketing campaign. Besides running a series of interviews with MI6 officers on the BBC’s pop channel, Radio 1 (with their voices distorted, naturally) and a radio tour of the MI6 building in London, the service has also created a Web site to answer the pressing questions of wannabe James Bonds (and Jane Bonds, whom it claims would never be used as honey traps). The site (mi6.gov.uk) even has an interactive test to simulate the work of a spy going undercover. The transparent approach seems to be working—the organization was said to have seen a sharp spike in applications straight after the radio shows aired.

Bond: United Artists/Neal Peters Collection