Spies urged to come in from the closet

August 17, 2008

The intelligence service MI5 has teamed up with Britain’s leading gay lobby group to recruit more homosexuals and to encourage spies to be open about their sexuality.

    MI5, which targets home-grown terrorists and foreign spies, has hired Stonewall to advise on how it can attract a broader range of applicants.

    Until the early 1990s, gays were barred from sensitive government jobs because of fears that they would be vulnerable to blackmail.  The ban followed revelations about the notorious Cambridge spy ring, the 1950s group of Cambridge graduates who worked in the intelligence service.  Two of the ringleaders, Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt, were both gay.

    This year MI5 will appear in Stonewall’s graduate recruitment guide, which lists gay-friendly employers.

    Since the London Underground bombings on July 7, 2005, MI5 has been expanding rapidly.  Staff numbers are expected to hit 3,500 by the end of the year, up from 1,500 in 2001.

    The drive to recruit British Muslims and speakers of Asian languages has been well reported, but MI5’s targeting of the gay community will come as something of a surprise.

    Ben Summerskill, director of Stonewall, said: “I am optimistic that in 10 to 15 years their [MI5’s] employment profile will look very much like modern Britain.  There is no reason why there shouldn’t be a lesbian or gay director-general.”

    Explaining why MI5 might wish to recruit from the gay community, he added: “People from all minority communities do have experience of getting on with people who are different and of fitting in.

    “They are also good at doing these things in a way that is not conspicuous.”  A Whitehall source confirmed that MI5 was working closely with Stonewall, saying: “The service seeks to reflect the broad range of UK society which it serves.”

    One of Stonewall’s first achievements has been to set up a gay and lesbian “network” at MI5 to work with spy chiefs on policy.  Stonewall, which was paid for its work, has also been advising on how to create a working environment where gay officers can feel comfortable about “coming out”.

    In the past homosexual staff were nervous about revealing their sexual orientation to colleagues because it might lead to claims that they had lied to recruiters when they joined.

    The plan to bring Stonewall into MI5’s normally insular headquarters on London’s Millbank was approved by Jonathan Evans, who became director-general last year.  By coincidence Evans and Summerskill attended the same public school, Sevenoaks in Kent.