MI5 replaces IT-inept agents with younger, more savvy recruits

MI5 seeks to change its staff profile

The head of the UK’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 has said it will axe spies who lack sufficient IT skills.

The agency aims to bring in a new breed of agent with the skills to cope with the growing role of technology in espionage.

Jonathan Evans, director general of MI5, told the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee: "some of the staff aren’t quite those we will want for the future.”

He stated that, as a result, a programme of both voluntary and compulsory redundancies was being introduced.

Evans argued that with advances in technology, it is vital that staff are able to cope with and understand the internet.

“There’s no doubt that the internet is a strong vector of threat as far as espionage is concerned,” he said.

Despite the pledge to lay off IT-inept agents, MI5's overall staff numbers are set to continue increasing, rising by 40 per cent between April 2006 and April 2009.

The agency expects to increase staff numbers to 4,100 next year as part of an ongoing recruitment drive.