In December, 2021, Richard Moore, the head of the UK’s foreign intelligence service, the infamous MI6, gave an interview to The Economist, the British magazine. It was rare for the head spy of one of the world’s most recognized intelligence agencies to give a public interview.
And it was just a few months before Russia would invade Ukraine, disrupting the world.
Since Russia’s invasion, however, the world of spies has been more and more in the public eye. From podcasts to television, Western spy chiefs are discussing challenges and strategies, reversing decades of purposeful, selective silence where details were seldom shared.
The catalyst for what Western intelligence services are doing is geopolitics.
The world stage has changed so significantly, in such a short period of time, that Western spies have a new mandate, including partly stepping out of the shadows.
In the past year, two events have taken place that shed light on how Western security agencies are thinking about the globe.
