E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
SSPL via Getty Images, file
The registration room at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire in 1943. Bletchley Park was the British forces' intelligence center during WWII, where cryptographers deciphered top-secret military communiques between Hitler and his armed forces. These communiques were encrypted in the 'enigma' code which the Germans considered unbreakable, but the codebreakers at Bletchley cracked the code with the help of 'Bombe' machines, and so aided the Allies' victory.
By Peter Jeary, NBC News
In the 50 years since the first James Bond movie created a lasting impression of a British secret agent, a completely different character is about to emerge.
Britain's intelligence agencies are to recruit their next generation of cyber spies by harnessing the talents of the "Xbox generation."
In an expansion of a pilot program, Foreign Secretary William Hague announced Thursday that up to 100 18-year-olds will be given the chance to train for a career in Britain’s secret services.
Most of the recruitment is aimed at producing staff for the GCHQ, the electronic communications agency and monitoring station at the heart of Britain’s cyber defenses. However, some recruits will go on to work in the other two intelligence agencies – MI5 and MI6.
The move to recruit school-leavers marks a break with the past, when agencies mainly drew their staff from among university graduates.
Speaking at Bletchley Park, the forerunner of GCHQ and home to Britain's Second World War code-breakers, Hague said it was important to bring in the most talented people to secure the UK's cyber expertise for the future.
“Young people are the key to our country’s future success, just as they were during the War,” Hague said. “Today we are not at war, but I see evidence every day of deliberate, organized attacks against intellectual property and government networks in the United Kingdom.”
Security Minister James Brokenshire told NBC News the government was always on the lookout for the best people regardless of where they come from.
“We look at technical innovation, but it’s also looking at attracting people to become involved in the work or our agencies, recognizing the importance of the work that they do,”he said.
The new recruitment program, called the Single Intelligence Account apprenticeship scheme will enable students with suitable qualifications in science, technology or engineering, to spend two years learning about communications, security and engineering through formal education, technical training and work placements.
Officials said apprenticeships would tap into the skills of the "Xbox generation" who had grown up in the world of social media, global connectivity and interactive gaming.
In a bid to widen the Intelligence Services’ pool of cyber talent, Hague also announced GHCQ will introduce an open-door and continuous recruitment strategy, no longer only recruiting annually. And a university degree will no longer be a prerequisite, but consideration will be given to anyone with relevant experience.
The Director of GCHQ, Iain Lobban, welcomed the announcement, saying, “It should ensure that GCHQ continues to develop the skills and attract the talent it needs to meet today's challenges around cyber security.”
More from NBCNews.com:
Leave a Comment:
Spy kids!
Sounds like a good opportunity for determined young adults, though. Am sure there will be regular drug testing.
For all the critics, as a teenager I yearned to become a spy for the CIA or another alphabet agency not out of any desire for deception or political agenda, but because I knew it would be a fascinating and ever-changing career. Notice that most of Britain's teen recruitment is for GCHQ, equivalent and almost as good as our NSA in Ft. Meade, MD. These future codebreakers will need to be computer hacker whizzes, which is why the Brits are less interested in them having college degrees than being cyber-clever. Plus GCHQ can pay high school graduates less than college grads. In addition, it's easier to investigate teens for their security clearances than it is adults who have moved, worked, married, traveled, etc.
Advanced degrees and experience will always be welcome at Mi-5 (like our FBI) and Mi-6, their CIA equivalent, but they need entry-level workers too. Don't worry, they'll tell you they work as accountants or librarians, not as intelligence analysts or spies. My name is Bond, James Bond...
It sounds like a great way for some computer geek youth to use their talents. I wonder why they don't try that here?
QUOYE: " I wonder why they don't try that here?"
Are you certain that 'they' aren't?
Young recruited to serve Satan through a career of deception!
Agent Cody Banks?
Good idea! Start them young when they are all naive and impressionable. That is what Soviets did, making kids spy even on their own parents.
Sees Thru Glass. You are stupid. The world is a dangerous place.
The Queen and her war mongering hence men are full of Mal-trust, distrust.==coyote
I bet they are having trouble finding older recruits. What makes them think the younger ones will be any different?
Good luck finding kids who want to be part of "the system". Most of the youth I know are against it. For good reason.
21 jumpstreet spies I like it :)
I wonder if MI-5/MI-6 are any better than our own bunch. I recall applying twice(Three?) to the idiots at Langley, VA. My qualifications: Read, write and speak fluent Arabic, Baghdad dialect. Besides that, I am a mathmatician.
I was treated with suspicion.
I gave up on those jerks.
They are not what they used to be during the cold war. They degenerated.
http://www.ctcintl.com/harmed.html
This article written by an old time C.I.A. person explains a lot.
Tell the whole world about your spy recruiting techniques. Way to go.
Well, I gotta admit that opportunities are coming back for young adults, its good to hear, and I think its a great Idea . When I was fourteen I was working as a clerical worker in a Forensic Pathologists office organizing and matching case files to a computer with an MS DOS OS. I fell out of computers for a long time, and eventually was offered a contract through the ARMY in 1st REG Special Forces Covert Operations Intelligence before my seventeenth birthday. I never was able to get my legal guardian to sign off on it, but like I said it's great to see opportunities for teenagers again. Their time is now, and its their choice to make the best of it. Besides , not to confuse espionage with fame , but look at Beyonce , and numerous other singers they were a success by the time they were sixteen. Its about time we get some opportunities to young adults.
gary mckinnon. why not recruit this guy? bet he could do it.