Introduction
Introduction
Women in the intelligence
and security Agencies
The three intelligence and security Agencies – the Government
Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the Secret Intelligence
Service (SIS) and MI5 – are specialised organisations employing over
12,000 dedicated men and women. The work of their staff may
not be widely known, but it requires high levels of expertise. They
carry out highly skilled work in various areas, including intelligencegathering, in-depth assessments, agent-handling and data analysis,
all of which need to be underpinned by strong leadership and
effective relationships. A wide range of skills is therefore vital in
order to achieve the successful delivery of the Government’s counterterrorism strategy and for the Agencies to perform the tasks vital to
the UK’s national security.
“Diversity can improve
the reputation of an
organisation, help
attract and retain
talented people,
improve innovation
and creativity
amongst employees
and encourage the
motivation and
efficiency of staff.”
The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament oversees the
work of the three intelligence and security Agencies. This includes the
policies they follow, the operations they conduct and their staffing
and finances. As part of this work, for some years the Committee has
examined what proportion of the Agencies’ staff are white, black or
minority ethnic, men or women, able-bodied or disabled, over 50,
under 50, etc. We have accumulated a wealth of statistics about
the organisations. However, these statistics do not really give any
indication of what is actually happening in the Agencies. Are they
diverse organisations? Are they drawing on the best talent? Is this
affecting the ability of the Agencies to deal effectively with threats
to the UK’s national security? And what is being done to attract and
promote the best people?
This is not just an ethical issue: it is vitally important from an intelligence
perspective. Both the public and private sectors increasingly realise
that organisations benefit from a diverse workforce. This is not in
order to meet targets or tick boxes, but because diversity provides
a competitive advantage: different people approach the same
problem in different ways and find different solutions, and this
competition, collaboration and challenge is essential to making
progress. Organisations have moved on from the dreary mandatory
half-day training courses to fulfil what they saw as their moral or
ethical obligations, and now recognise diversity as an investment
in the business itself. Diversity can improve the reputation of an
organisation, help attract and retain talented people, improve
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