London: Britain named Blaise Metreweli, an intelligence officer as the head of the Secret Intelligence Service, more popularly known as MI6. She is the first woman to lead the agency in its 115 years history. She has over 2 decades of experience with the intelligence agency. She will take over as the chief this Autumn, said the country’s Prime Minister, Keir Starmer.
Metreweli joined MI6 in 1999
47-year-old Metreweli joined MI6 in 1999 and is presently the Director General of its technology and innovation division. She is set to replace Richard Moore, who has headed the premier spy agency since 2020.
The new appointee has worked in several positions in both MI6 and MI5, which is the country’s domestic intelligence agency. She is an alumni of Cambridge University, where she studied social anthropology. In her decades long career, she has spent most of her time in the Middle East and Europe, in an operational role.
Following the announcement of her appointment, Metreweli said, “I am proud and honoured to be asked to lead my service”, reported NDTV. She takes on one of the most powerful roles in Western intelligence and her code name will be “C”.
Talking about the appointment, UK’s PM Starmer said, “Metreweli’s appointment comes when Britain is “facing threats on an unprecedented scale.” He is currently in Canada for the G-7 Summit. He also said that he was confident that Metreweli will continue to provide excellent leadership which was needed to defend the UK.
The biggest challenge for Metreweli will be dealing with China, Iran and Russia. Britain has accused Russia of waging a sabotage across Europe to scare other countries, so that they do not support Ukraine in the ongoing war. Similarly China has been one of the major concerns of the UK spy agency. Iran has been accused by UK’s intelligence of plotting to kill, kidnap or target dissidents or political opponents in the country since 2022.
