Ageing spies unable to use the internet

Having battled Islamic extremists, Irish Republican terrorists and Russian spies, some of the veteran intelligence officers of MI5 are encountering a foe they cannot master: information technology.The Security Service is launching an unprecedented round of redundancies to improve the overall level of computer skills among its staff.Despite an expanding budget, MI5 is laying off employees in order to hire new intelligence officers and support staff with better command of information technology and other “deployable” skills.The redundancy programme has set tongues wagging in Whitehall, with civil servants in other departments joking about a “James Bond generation” of elderly spies being put out to pasture because they can’t use the internet and don't understand the world of Twitter or Facebook.The plan was disclosed by Jonathan Evans, the director-general of MI5.He told a Parliamentary committee that he is concerned that his agency’s overall IT skills are not up to scratch, leading him to get rid of some employees.“I think some of the staff perhaps aren’t quite the ones that we will want for the future,” Mr Evans told the Intelligence and Security Committee.As a result, a programme of “both voluntary and compulsory redundancies” is being introduced.Whitehall officials said the MI5 redundancy programme was aimed at altering the skills profile of the organisation and increasing the number of its staff that can be deployed on active operations.Only a small proportion of the service’s staff will affected by the lay-offs, it is understood. But redundancies will be made across the organisation and not confined to specialist IT staff. MI5 currently has around 3,500 officers and is on course to have 4,100 by next year, double its size in 2001. Many of the new recruits are in their 20s and 30s attracted by high-profile advertising campaigns and – in part – the BBC drama Spooks.

via Ageing spies unable to use the internet - Telegraph.