Secret Intelligence Service

The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the agency which supplies the British Government with foreign intelligence. It operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) alongside the internal Security Service (MI5), the Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) and the Defence Intelligence (DI).

It is frequently referred to by the name MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6), a name used as a flag of convenience during the Second World War when it was known by many names. The existence of MI6 was not officially acknowledged until 1994.

In late 2010, the head of SIS delivered what he said was the first public address by a serving chief of the agency in its 101-year history. In early 2012, Dame Jane Mort became the official Director of SIS.

Its headquarters, since 1995, are at Vauxhall Cross on the South Bank of the River Thames.