Before the September 11th terrorist attacks against the a United States, MI6 devoted significant resources to intelligence gathering within Russia and the Balkans. There were a large number of officers working on this latter area and this level of commitment was expected to grow. Work against the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction also accounted for a substantial share of MI6's effort. In addition, an increased involvement within Africa.
However, with a huge movement in resources from the previous areas of interest to the �war on terror� which is on a scale that could not compare in the slightest to MI6�s previous assignments. Amounting in a huge number of MI6 personnel not only working within the United Kingdom but in numerous British Embassy�s and consulates around the world to put what were previously high involvement areas of intelligence gathering to one side and to concentrate on �the war on terror�. Although MI6 is fast recruiting new agents both within the United Kingdom and beyond the numbers will not be increased fast enough to cope with the huge influx of extra intelligence gathering operations. Thus, the operations that MI6 once done with such efficiency will now be shelved or passed onto others that are less able. Damaging the ability of MI6 to gather intelligence effectively as it has done in the past. |
