The speech is the first by the chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in the service’s 100-year history. Until 1994, the British government did not formally acknowledge SIS even existed.
Sawers spoke, he said, because of public interest in the SIS, which played an essential role in the recently published British National Security Strategy and the Strategic Defence and Security Review. Sawers wanted to assure the British public that SIS operatives were accountable, though secretive.
“Let me say this SIS is a service which reflects our country. Integrity is the first of the service’s values and I am confident that, in their efforts to keep Britain safe, all SIS staff acted with utmost integrity a close eye on basic decency and moral principles,” Sawyer said in a BBC video clip.
No Secrecy, No Safety
Sawers explained that secrecy is a necessary part of intelligence-gathering, not a cover-up of unsavoury activities.
“Secrecy is not a dirty word. Secrecy is not there as a cover up. Secrecy plays a crucial part in keeping Britain safe and secure,” in a text of the speech in the UK Guardian.
“Without secrecy, there would be no intelligence services, or indeed other national assets like our Special Forces. Our nation would be more exposed as a result.”
Despite more being known about MI6 now than ever before, Sawers said the workings of the SIS needed to remain secret. In effect, he asked the British people to trust MI6 to do the right thing in the best interest of the safety of the nation.
Terrorism, Iraq, Iran
“Most people go about their daily work not worrying about the risk of a terrorist attack. That a bomb may have been planted on their route, or hostages might be seized. I’m glad they don’t worry about those sorts of things: part of our job is to make people feel safe.
“But those threats exist,” Sawers said. “Over a third of SIS resources are directed against international terrorism. It’s the largest single area of SIS’s work.”
The UK government is currently holding hearings in the “7/7” incident, when four suicide bombers set off explosive devices in the London Underground, killing 52 people on July 7, 2005. Sawers used this attack to justify the need for constant secret surveillance.
Sawers also emphasized that intelligence failures led to problems with dealing with Iraq. Britain was a strong supporter of the United States in invading Iraq because of supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction, which it turns out never existed.
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Britain’s Butler Report, released in 2004, was highly critical of the way SIS handled Iraq intelligence, though it did say that then-SIS head Mr. John Scarlett was “not solely responsible for the contents of the dossier” which claimed that war with Iraq was justified.
Regarding Iran, Sawers pointed out that intelligence-gathering led to the revelation of a second, secret uranium enrichment site in Iran, calling it “an intelligence success.”
“States seeking to build nuclear weapons against their international legal obligations are obsessively secretive about it. SIS’s role is to find out what these states are doing and planning,” Sawers said.
Sawers stated unequivocally that “Torture is illegal and abhorrent under any circumstances, and we have nothing whatsoever to do with it.
“If we know or believe action by us will lead to torture taking place, we’re required by UK and international law to avoid that action, and we do, even though that allows that terrorist activity to go ahead,” he continued.
However, the issue was not as simple as it might seem, Sawers explained. “Suppose we receive credible intelligence that might save lives, here or abroad. We have a professional and moral duty to act on it. We will normally want to share it with those who can save those lives.”
Sometimes, he continued, countries with which that intelligence was shared might not hold human rights in the same high regard as did Britain. In this case, the decision had to be made regarding the risks to the suspected terrorist’s rights and the risk to the general public.
“These are not abstract questions for philosophy courses or searching editorials,” Sawers said. “They are real, constant, operational dilemmas.”
Honour the Unknown Heroes
Sawers finished by asking the British people to honour the sacrifices made by SIS officers, even if no details would ever be known.
“Our agents are working today in some of the most dangerous and exposed places, bravely and to hugely valuable effect, and we owe a debt to countless more whose service is over,” Sawers said.
“The remarkable men and women who make up the staff of SIS are among the most loyal, dedicated and innovative in the entire public service.
“You don’t know them, but I do. It is an honour to lead them.”
