With expected commentary from JVining: Chief of MI6, Britain's International Spy Agency, Goes Public

From today's NYTimes:

At an appropriately hush-hush venue, before a not-so-hush-hush audience of newspaper editors and television cameras, the head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service on Thursday delivered what he said was the first public address by a serving chief of the agency in its 101-year history.

But Sir John Sawers, whose organization is widely known as MI6, devoted much of his 30-minute address to the central role of secrecy in maintaining security and to what he called Britain’s abhorrence of torture to extract secret information.

“Secrecy is not a dirty word,” he said. “Secrecy is not there as a cover-up. Secrecy plays a crucial part in keeping Britain safe and secure.”

To read the full piece, click here.