Though many apply, only a few have the skills and patience to make it as a “watcher”, an MI5 training manual published for the first time by the National Archives reveals. Despite the rise in ...

However, a Second World War guide produced by MI5 for prospective agents concluded that the ideal “watcher” was “born and not made”. The 17-page guide, which was compiled for “officers ...

Rookie wartime MI5 "watchers" were advised they needed to be prepared to offer a big tip if they had to tell a taxi driver to "follow that cab" when pursuing a suspect, newly declassified ...

Confessions of double agents and tips for new spies have been released as part of a tranche of recently-declassified documents from MI5. The documents are part of a new exhibition on display at ...

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Actor Dirk Bogarde was warned by MI5 that he could be the target of a gay “entrapment” sting by the KGB, newly-declassified files reveal today. The intelligence documents released to the ...

Concerns have been raised about the role of MI5 operations directed against journalists and the ‘inability’ of a PSNI-linked surveillance review to investigate the covert agency. Details of ...

Avoid facial disguises, carry loose change and be ready to make split-second decisions: just some of the advice Britain’s domestic spy agency gave recruits tailing subjects nearly a century ago.