Alex Younger

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = Sir

| name = Alex Younger

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG}}

| image = Alex Younger 2014.jpg

| image_size = 220

| alma_mater = University of St Andrews

| office = Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service

| primeminister = David Cameron
Theresa May
Boris Johnson

| term_start = 1 November 2014

| term_end = 30 September 2020

| predecessor = Sir John Sawers

| successor = Sir Richard Moore

| occupation = Intelligence officer

| nationality = British

| birth_name = Alexander William Younger

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1963|7|4|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Westminster, London, England

| spouse = {{marriage|Sarah Hopkins|1993}}

| children = 3

| unit = {{ubl|Royal Scots|Scots Guards}}

| rank = Captain

| allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom}}

| branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}

| serviceyears = 1986–1990

| awards = Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George

| known_for =

}}

Sir Alexander William Younger {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCMG}} (born 4 July 1963) is a British intelligence officer who served as the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6),{{cite web|title = Appointment of the new Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)|url = https://www.gov.uk/government/news/appointment-of-the-new-chief-of-the-secret-intelligence-service-mi6|date = 3 October 2014|publisher = Her Majesty's Government|website = GOV.UK|accessdate = 3 October 2014|series = Press releases}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29476943 |title=MI6 officer Alex Younger named as new SIS chief |date=3 October 2014 |accessdate=3 October 2014 |publisher=BBC News}} from 2014 to 2020.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/26/mi6-chief-sir-john-sawers-steps-down |title=MI6 chief Sir John Sawers to step down |first1=Ewen |last1=MacAskill |authorlink1=Ewen MacAskill |first2=Richard |last2=Norton-Taylor |authorlink2=Richard Norton-Taylor |newspaper=The Guardian |date=26 June 2014 |accessdate=5 July 2014}} In April 2019, the government extended Younger's contract to maintain stability through the Brexit negotiations,{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/mi6-chief-alex-younger-set-to-stay-in-post-over-brexit-fears-hmhsbjvjw|title=MI6 chief Alex Younger set to stay in post over Brexit fears|last=Evans|first=Michael|date=13 February 2019|work=The Times|access-date=2019-06-09|language=en|issn=0140-0460}} which made him the longest-serving MI6 chief in 50 years.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/12/alex-younger-agrees-become-longest-serving-mi6-chief-50-years/|title=Alex Younger agrees to become the longest serving MI6 chief in 50 years|last=Coughlin|first=Con|date=12 April 2019|work=The Telegraph|access-date=2019-06-09|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}

Early life

Born in Westminster, London on 4 July 1963, Younger is of Scottish heritage.{{cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=51dOREbBphGzuM9CeMadSA&scan=1|title=Index entry|accessdate=3 December 2018|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}"Younger, Alexander William", Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014{{cite news |last=Younger |first=Alexandra |date=14 February 1994 |title=Wilder shores of love: Five couples who went abroad to get married tell their stories to Alexandra Younger |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/wilder-shores-of-love-five-couples-who-went-abroad-to-get-married-tell-their-stories-to-alexandra-1394125.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220202050/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wilder-shores-of-love-five-couples-who-went-abroad-to-get-married-tell-their-stories-to-alexandra-1394125.html |archive-date=2016-12-20 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |newspaper=The Independent |accessdate=12 December 2016}} He was educated at Marlborough College before graduating from the University of St Andrews with a degree in economics.{{cite web|url=https://www.sis.gov.uk/news/alex-younger-st-andrews-speech.html|date=3 December 2018|title=MI6 'C' Delivers Rare Public Speech at St Andrews University|accessdate=8 June 2019}}{{cite news |last=Pettifor |first=Tom |date=8 December 2016 |title=Everything you need to know about Britain's top spy Alex Younger as he warns of ISIS threat |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/everything-you-need-know-britains-9420802 |newspaper=Daily Mirror|accessdate=9 December 2016}}

Career

=Military service=

Younger was sponsored by the British Army through university. He was commissioned into the Royal Scots on 5 September 1986 as a second lieutenant (on probation).{{London Gazette |issue=50733 |date=1 December 1986 |page=15534 |supp=y }} As a university candidate he was a full-time student at university and trained in his spare time. On 10 December 1986, he transferred to the Scots Guards.{{London Gazette |issue=50813 |date=26 January 1987 |page=1079 |supp=y }}{{London Gazette |issue=50907 |date=1 May 1987 |page=5856 |supp=y }}

On 16 June 1987, his commission was confirmed and dated to 5 September 1986; this signified the start of his full-time military service. He was granted seniority in the rank of second lieutenant from 9 April 1983. He was promoted to lieutenant, which was backdated to 5 September 1986, and was granted seniority from 9 April 1985.{{London Gazette |issue=50965 |date=15 June 1987 |page=7669 |supp=y }} He was promoted to captain on 5 April 1989.{{London Gazette |issue=51696|date=10 April 1989 |page=4292 |supp=y }} On 10 April 1990, he transferred to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers, thereby ending his active military service.{{London Gazette |issue=52138|date=15 May 1990 |page=9158|supp=y }}

=Intelligence work=

File:MI6 Vauxhall Cross.jpg, London]]

Younger joined MI6 in 1991. He joined the service at the same time as Richard Tomlinson, who in his book The Big Breach, portrayed him as "Spencer", a St Andrews graduate and former Scots Guard who was recruited while working for the Halo Trust in Afghanistan.{{cite book |last1=Tomlinson |first1=Richard |title=The Big Breach |page=31 |url=https://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/government_information/intelligence_and_espionage/Big.Breach.From.Top.Secret.To.Maximum.Security.pdf |accessdate=27 February 2019}}

Younger served in the Balkans during the Yugoslav Wars, Vienna, Dubai and in Afghanistan overseeing all SIS operations in country. Returning to the UK he became Head of Counter-Terrorism in 2009, in which role he was involved in security for the London Olympics 2012. He became deputy director in 2012, before being nominated as Chief in October 2014, succeeding Sir John Sawers on his retirement.{{cite news |last1=Evans |first1=Michael |last2=Haynes |first2=Deborah |authorlink2=Deborah Haynes |date=3 October 2014 |title=Games anti terror chief Alex Younger named as Britain's new top spy |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/games-anti-terror-chief-alex-younger-named-as-britains-new-top-spy-t2r3mxfrnwh |newspaper=The Times |access-date=3 December 2018 |url-access=subscription }}

In a leaked list of 160 MI6 agents—which was originally believed to have been released by Richard Tomlinson, although government officials subsequently "acknowledged that the list did not come from Mr Tomlinson"—Alex Younger is mentioned as having been posted to Vienna in 1995.{{cite news |last=Du Chateau |first=Carroll |date=30 June 2000 |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/carroll-du-chateau/news/article.cfm?a_id=69&objectid=138732 |title=Outcast: the spy who wants to spill the beans |newspaper=The New Zealand Herald |accessdate=16 April 2015}} As of 2015, Younger was paid a salary of between £160,000 and £164,999 by MI6, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/492289/150K_senior_salaries.csv/preview|title=Senior officials 'high earners' salaries as at 30 September 2015 - GOV.UK|date=17 December 2015|website=www.gov.uk|access-date=11 March 2016}}

Public views

=Russia=

In 2016 Younger said cyber-attacks, propaganda and subversion from hostile states pose a fundamental threat to European democracies including the UK. In a rare speech by an MI6 chief while in office, Younger did not specifically name Russia, but left no doubt that this was the target of his remarks.{{cite news |last=MacAskill |first=Ewen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/dec/08/hostile-states-pose-fundamental-threat-to-europe-says-mi6-chief |title= Hostile states pose 'fundamental threat' to Europe, says MI6 chief |date=8 December 2016 |newspaper=The Guardian |accessdate=9 December 2016}}{{cite news |last=Noack |first=Rick |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/10/everything-we-know-so-far-about-russian-election-meddling-in-europe/ |title=Everything we know so far about Russian election meddling in Europe |date=10 January 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=11 November 2018}} In 2020 Younger described continuing Russian ambition to subvert Western democratic process through disinformation, which he ascribed to Russian fear of the quality of Western institutions and alliances. He advocated strong defences but warned that we should not magnify the effect of these relatively crude and unsophisticated attacks by exaggerating their effect. Nor should Western democracies allow these attacks to diminish their own responsibility for dealing with the things that caused division in their own countries. "The Russians did not create the things that divide us, we did that to ourselves".{{Cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/c544d058-6dad-4549-8319-470975281d0a|title=Alex Younger: 'The Russians did not create the things that divide us — we did that' |website=www.ft.com}}

=China and technology=

In December 2018, Younger raised concerns about Huawei's role in the UK's new 5G mobile network.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-46690627|title=BBC News: Huawei: 'Deep concerns' over firm's role in UK 5G upgrade|website=BBC News|language=en-gb|date=27 December 2018 }} In 2020 he forecast continuing ideological divergence between the West and China given the premium that the Chinese Communist Party placed in preserving their interests. He said that this would have significant security consequences that the West should anticipate and organise against. But it should also recognise the need for coexistence given that two value systems were like to occupy one planet for the foreseeable future. He also called for the West to refocus on its own strengths: the quality of its alliances and innovation, rather than simply lamenting the rise of a competitor.

=Human rights=

In an October 2020 interview with Angelina Jolie in Time magazine, Younger voiced fears that the international consensus on human rights norms had broken down. It was now up to like-minded liberal democracies to create consequences for the worst violators. Separately, he acknowledged that Afghanistan's future had to be determined by politics but warned that the country had changed and that the Taliban should understand that Afghans, particularly women, would have no tolerance for a reversion to the way things were.{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/5901737/angelina-jolie-alex-younger-mi6/ |title=Angelina Jolie Talks to Outgoing MI6 Chief About Fighting Misinformation and Life as a Spy|magazine=Time |access-date=6 January 2020}}

=Academic freedom=

In December 2018 Younger gave a rare speech at the University of St Andrews, making emphasis of the need for fourth-generation espionage and fusing human skills with technical innovation. This was the second public speech in the four years since his appointment as chief of the MI6.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46422139|title=MI6 Chief gives a rare speech|website=BBC News|language=en-gb|date=28 December 2019}} During the speech Younger addressed the case of Matthew Hedges, a British university student who was arrested in the UAE. Younger said he was perplexed by what has happened and that there were some frank conversations ahead between Britain and the UAE.{{cite news |title=Alex Younger: MI6 chief 'perplexed' over Matthew Hedges case |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46422139 |accessdate=29 August 2019 |date=29 August 2019}} Hedges was later pardoned by UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and reunited with his wife in the UK.{{cite news| url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46341310| title= Matthew Hedges: British academic pardoned by UAE|work=BBC News| date=29 August 2019| accessdate=26 November 2018}}

=Counter terrorism=

On 16 February 2019, when interviewed by the British press, Younger was asked about the wives of British ISIS fighters stuck in Syria after the fall of the caliphate. He acknowledged their plight, but warned that such people would have acquired skills and connections that made them dangerous to the public. Home Secretary Sajid Javid later chose to strip Shamima Begum, who had married an ISIS fighter, of her British citizenship. The decision was confirmed in the case of Begum v Home Secretary.{{cite web|url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1088161/isis-british-jihadi-brides-danger-uk-security-MI6-chief-warns|title=ISIS 'jihadi brides have connections and skills to be very dangerous,' warns MI6 chief|website=Express.co.uk|language=en-gb|date=29 December 2019}}{{cite web |url=https://www.itv.com/news/2019-02-15/shamima-begum-home-secretary-vows-to-prevent-return-of-britons-who-join-is/ |title='British nationals have a right to come to the UK' MI6 chief says as IS school girl makes plea to come home |accessdate=29 August 2019}}

In September 2020, speaking to the Financial Times, Younger was asked if the UK had wrongly prioritised counter terrorism at the expense of coverage of Russia and China. Younger said that he supported the government's very low tolerance for instability driven by terrorism because it was such a gross violation of social norms. He described the recent destruction of the ISIS caliphate in Syria as a "High Point", but he warned that terrorism had now become more autonomous and spontaneous, and remained lethal.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/c544d058-6dad-4549-8319-470975281d0a|title=Alex Younger: 'The Russians did not create the things that divide us — we did that'|website=www.ft.com}}

=UK politics=

In a July 2024 interview with ITV News, Younger claimed that Britain had become 'irrelevant' since Brexit.{{cite web |title=Ex-MI6 chief warns next Prime Minister over damage of Brexit and 'punishing' weight of role |url=https://www.itv.com/watch/news/ex-mi6-chief-warns-next-prime-minister-over-damage-of-brexit-and-punishing-weight-of-role/rsj114j |website=ITV News |access-date=4 July 2024}}

Personal life

Younger married Sarah Hopkins in Borgo a Mozzano, Tuscany, in 1993.{{cite web|url=https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/mi6-chiefs-son-was-edinburgh-university-student-killed-scottish-estate-crash-548784|title=MI6 chief's son was Edinburgh University student killed in Scottish estate crash|date=1 April 2019|newspaper=Edinburgh Evening News|access-date=26 December 2022}} On 30 March 2019, Younger's son, Sam, was killed in a motoring accident in Stirlingshire.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-47775187 |title=MI6 chief's son dies in crash on private Stirlingshire estate|publisher=Bbc.co.uk |accessdate=2 April 2019}}

Younger enjoys mountain hiking and sailing. He has three dogs.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29476943 |title=MI6: Alex named as new head |accessdate=30 August 2019}}{{cite web |url=https://www.ft.com/content/9a965a44-4af5-11e4-b1be-00144feab7de |title=Career spy Alex Younger to head Britain's MI6 |accessdate=30 August 2019}}

Honours

Younger was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2011 Birthday Honours and Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to the United Kingdom.{{London Gazette |issue=59808 |date=11 June 2011 |page=3 |supp=y}}

References

External links

[http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2016/dec/08/james-bond-spy-mi6-alex-younger-video "James Bond is both a blessing and curse, says spy chief Alex Younger" - video] The Guardian, 8 December 2016
[https://news.sky.com/video/mi6-chief-enemies-in-perpetual-confrontation-11570898 MI6 chief Alex Younger: Enemies in 'perpetual confrontation'] Sky News December 2018
[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/03/uk-is-in-technological-arms-race-with-its-foes-warns-mi6-chief "UK is in technological arms race with its foes, warns MI6 chief Alex Younger" - video], Nick Hopkins, The Guardian, 3 December 2018
[https://www.irishtimes.com/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_person=Alex+Younger The Irish Times | Alex Younger]