>Ernest Adams writes:
> We know it's not a division of MI5 or MI6; the principals talk about
> those organizations as if they were someone else.
The Sandbaggers work for the Operations Directorate (Burnside is D-Ops, or
Director of Operations. The Directorate is a division of MI6 and also
includes Counterintelligence, which D-Ops oversees as well.
> It's remotely possible that it's some other part of the Ministry of
> Defence, because when Neil called the Aide-de-Camp of the Governor
> of Gibraltar, he told him he was in MoD. But that might just have
> been a ruse. Neil also got into a fight with the MoD over sending
> divers down to check out a Soviet freighter in a French port, which
> is evidence against.
MI6 is headed by the Foreign Office, which has oversight of the MOD.
> We're fairly sure it's not part of the Foreign Office; Neil keeps
> going over there to get signatures, but definitely refers to it
> as if it were something "other." It is interesting that Neil complains
> in the first episode that they keep being lumped with diplomats as
> "C", which suggests a strong Foreign Office connection.
More specifically, Burnside's overseer is the Permanent Undersecretary
for the Intelligence Services, Welligham, who is part of the Foreign
Office. Also, Wellingham's office oversees the JIC (Joint Intelligence
Committee. Furthermore, there are direct connections between (from the
bottom up) SIS - JIC/Wellingham - Prime Minister.
> > I'm a little confused about "FCO" -- does this mean "Foreign and
> Commonwealth Office"? It seems to be synonymous with the "Foreign
> Office." Wellingham is referred to as the "PUS of the FCO" frequently.
Yes, FCO is Foreign Commonwealth Office and is part of JIC. Again, PUS is
Permanent Under-Secretary.
Regards,
Joe
-- ---------- "Reservations are the condoms in the birth of new ideas" --------- - T. "Twiggy" Rathbone; Chairman, Managing Director of RatHouse International- *** Joe Scamardella at RatHouse International/ jmscamar@titan.ucs.umass.edu ***