intelligence
MI5 – keeping our country safe
Thames House is the headquarters of MI5, an imposing eight storey high edifice a few hundred yards from the Palace of Westminster.
Stella Rimington joined MI5 in 1965 and during her career worked in counter-subversion, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism, directing all three branches in turn. She was appointed Director-General of the whole of MI5 in 1992, the first woman ever to hold the post, and was awarded the prestigious Dame Commander of the Order of Bath in the 1996 New Year Honours.
In 2004 she published her debut novel with the principal character based on herself: At Risk.
Liz Carlyle is an agent-runner in the counter-terrorism group based at Thames House, ten years into her term of service, anxiety her constant companion; to be effective she must herself be placed at risk. Her life is dominated by her work; unpredictable, stressful and shrouded in secrecy. By nature and inclination she is totally suited to the task.
… her quiet sage-green gaze masked an unflinching determination. A hunger for the fierce, close-focused engagement of the chase.
She dresses in nondescript clothes calculated to be non-memorable in any environment, always low profile even in success. It’s a lonely path, work-intensive, below the radar, the lives and security of all her agents and contacts in her hands, national security her daily preoccupation.
As soon as relationships become demanding or complex, she must end them.
She had found herself unable to compromise her independence in order to accommodate the emotional needs of a lover.
That this cycle led to her denying her own emotional needs she was well aware. Each parting was an excision, a scalpel’s downstroke, for which the only cure was immersion in work.
And now she has ‘an invisible’ on her patch; the ultimate intelligence nightmare – a terrorist who, because he or she is an ethnic native of the target country, can cross its borderds unchecked, move around that country unquestioned, and infiltrate its institutions with ease. As soon as we know that, each new character becomes an instant suspect.
Painstakingly Liz and her colleagues piece together a picture of two people who have traumatic experiences in their past that have precipitated them into fanaticism and vengeance. Both have had training in weapons and killing. Both have managed to travel to the UK and close to their ultimate target. But along the way they have killed innocent people, and the combined skill and weight of all the relevant services responsible for counter-terrorism and law and order is being amassed. It’s a race against time to outwit this deadly pair; time marked by a fast-approaching sinister anniversary. Curiosity, tension and dread keep the pages turning, and I for one didn’t anticipate the twist at the end which challenged me to consider how I would react in these circumstances, just how robust my own moral code would be.
It’s chilling to absorb the cold dispassion of trained suicide bombers and assasins; sobering to feel the weight of responsibility MI5 and MI6 and the police force carry to keep us safe; awe-inspiring to see how they sift and search and second guess and deduce to stay a step ahead of the most devious and devilish minds and prevent the most heinous massacres; scary to see how personal agendas and self-interest can pervert even the most disciplined. Stella Rimington has done us all a service by giving us insights into this secret world in such a rivetting and accessible form.