Britain’s MI6 foreign intelligence service has retooled the storied spy agency with a major focus on the threat posed by China, the agency’s director said in rare public remarks Thursday.
“MI6 has never had any illusions about communist China,” said Richard Moore, chief of what is called the Secret Intelligence Service.
Unlike its CIA counterpart, MI6 is a dedicated human spying agency that does not engage in intelligence analysis, Mr. Moore said. The agency was made famous by novelist Ian Fleming’s James Bond movies and by former MI6 officer John le Carre’s espionage novels.
Mr. Moore, a former MI6 spy recruiter with extensive overseas experience, said there is a growing recognition in governments and Western publics about some of the threats posed by the Chinese to free societies.