Wanted: 007s for Cloak and Dagger Work

LONDON — Psst! Wanna become a spy catcher? Call 439-5803 in central London.

But don’t tell a soul (especially if you manage to sneak past the busy signal). And only British citizens may apply.

On Wednesday, Britain’s counterintelligence service, whose very existence was officially denied for many years, stepped out of the shadows long enough to advertise for agents.

The innovation reflects a growing post-Cold War openness among intelligence services that is also apparent in the United States, where the FBI and CIA recruit openly.

The Security Service, or MI5, as it is better known, wants mature, quick-thinking, fast-talking recruits happy with a comfortable--but not lavish--salary.

“Intelligence. Use it to create waves and prevent repercussions,” said an ad in the Guardian newspaper Wednesday, alongside calls for community workers in the small English town of Kickholt and Wardleworth.

It was the first undisguised advertisement in the 88-year history of an internal security service that, beloved by successive generations of thriller writers, is the rough equivalent of the FBI in its spy-catching role.

During the Cold War, MI5 guarded principally against Soviet and other East Bloc spies.

These days, it focuses on the constant specter of Irish terrorism, as well as domestic threats from international organized crime, drug smuggling and foreign extremists, particularly Islamic militants.

There is no sign of any advertising campaign from MI5’s cross-Thames counterpart and friendly rival, the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6, which collects intelligence abroad and is comparable to the CIA.

The two services share a common root, having evolved from British military intelligence, thus the MI. James Bond would have been MI6.

For decades, MI5, whose staff is estimated at 2,000, recruited principally from the armed forces, the police and through a quiet network of professors at Britain’s upper-crust universities.

MI5, born in 1909, was so closely held that until 1989 its existence was officially secret, and only its last two directors have been publicly identified: Stella Rimington, retired, and Stephen Lander, who succeeded her last year. Now, in changing times, MI5 is broadening its horizons publicly, seeking candidates with “exceptional powers of communication and persuasion.”

Successful applicants will need to be able to talk their way into situations for information gathering, the ad said, “as well as the resourcefulness to extract yourself from less promising circumstances.”

Expect to work weekends: “Security threats never conform to neat routines, and neither will your work,” the MI5 ad cautions would-be counterspies.

“People from a wide range of backgrounds find this work uniquely satisfying--marketing executives, teachers, fund raisers, overseas aid workers, academics and journalists,” the ad said.

In the come-on promising “a career like no other,” MI5 effectively exchanged its cloak and dagger for euphemism, intelligence specialist Philip Knightley told the British Broadcasting Corp.

“Can you imagine a job description which said, ‘We are going to teach you to lie, cheat, tap people’s phones, eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, manipulate people through their weaknesses’?” Knightley asked.

The phone number in the ad, busy for most of the day Wednesday, yielded a recorded message telling callers how to apply.

Details cannot be revealed.

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Help Wanted: Spies

The British ad for counterintelligence recruits says people involved in marketing, teaching or academics could be qualified for such posts. Here’s an excerpt from the ad:

Exceptional powers of communication and persuasion will make you adept at talking your way into situations with the opportunity for gathering useful information, as well as the resourcefulness to extract yourself from less promising circumstances.