Inside the real-world Double-O section of Her Majesty's Secret Service

Thanks to the books and films we all know a lot about James Bond 007. We also know a little about the group he supposedly belongs to, the "Double-O agents" of "Her Majesty's Secret Service" - the only British secret agents with a licence to kill. But just how realistic is the idea? Does anything like the Double-O section really …

[Maikol]

Good stuff!

Excellent article, keep them coming!

[FartingHippo]

All lies!

Spooks was a documentary. James Bond was/is a minor exaggeration.

Now stop ruining my day :(

[FartingHippo]

Re: All lies!

Ummm....I wrote that after reading most of the first page. Turns out the rest of the artivle was very interesting and pretty cool, and completely stopped ruining my day.

Sorry about the shouting. As you were.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: All lies!

Actually, Yes Minister was the documentary.

[IT Hack]

Next time our American colleagues attempt a higher than thou stance when it come to intelligence agencies just point out that without Ian Fleming there would be no CIA. That would be the proper CIA...not the political tool after the the USAF/CIA pig fight...where the CIA disputed the number of Sov bombers when the USAF was looking at presenting a new budget. A few years later the CIA learned its lesson and played the game in the "missile gap" controversy.

Pint coz it makes it easier to digest bollocks politics.

[Thomas 4]

Re: Bondnote 3

I can't remember whether it was one of the books or the films but I recall one of Bond's friends saying that his Walther PPK was a "girl's gun".

[Dave 126]

Re: Bondnote 3

The Walther also features in The Wire as Brother Mouzone's preffered gun, though Omar is a tad dismissive of it. Spoiler: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20G17K_0ghU

I had a carpenter friend work a high end cabinet makers, and one Kuwaiti client wanted a desk with a secret, sprung loaded drawer, perfectly tuned to the weight of a Waltham PPK. The company had to arrange for a PPK to be bought to their premises for this fine adjustment. I guess the client was a very rich James Bond fan!

[foo_bar_baz]

Re: Bondnote 3

Waltham PPK. Lost for words.

[Is it me?]

Re: Bondnote 3

Waltham PPK, isn't that a front for the Essex Liberation Army.

[thomas newton]

Re: Bondnote 3

the PPK was given to him by Q to replace his previous weapon of choice, a .25 Beretta automatic, which he dismissed as a 'lady's gun'.

[tkioz]

Re: Bondnote 3

The PPK is fairly weak, as far as handguns go, even the 9mm that you see on TV as deadly (unless you've got plot armour) is fairly weak.

The PPK is best used up close when you've got no other choice, and against the skin in a vital spot, essentially an assassins weapon. The way Bond uses it in the movie (torso shots at 10-30 meters) is very unlikely do anything more then knock people down, unless you hit someone in a vital spot (e.g the neck), and against body armour it will do jackshit.

Also Bond would need to be an Olympic level (better actually) shooter to make half the shots you see in the movies. Pistols just aren't that accurate.

[Arctic fox]

@tkioz Re:"unlikely do anything more then knock people down"

That would depend on what type of ammo you were using. I am sure we can both think of "munitions" (supplied by Q perhaps?) that would have given even his original Baretta a kick like a mule!

[Is it me?]

Re: @tkioz unlikely do anything more then knock people down"

Mmmmm, better hit the target first time then, you won't get a chance to re-aim, or do the well known double tap to the chest.

[Local G]

@ tkioz: "The PPK is fairly weak, as far as handguns go,"

Very true.

Several years ago I switched from 90 gr 380s to 95 gr, and the first shot jammed my PPK.

Now I use 88 gr and aim for the belly from up close, just like you said.

A hollow point in his belly will slow Goldfinger down enough for you to get the hell out of there.

[Dapprman]

Re: Bondnote 3

It was Ian Flemming himself who described the Walther PPK as a girls gun, I think (I can't remember) Bond used mainly a Browning in his books.

[I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects]

Reboot note number 7.

I can't imagine why Flemming chose it originally but for the plots the character was in, it was an handy weapon. It just turned out that in a book, you don't put such a charcter up against the laws of chance and AK 47s.

One thing about small calibre weapons is that they are easy to get used to packing. It is much too tempting to leave your .50 in the drawer half the time. And when you next see a modern hero reloading one of them, take a look at the scene just before he unloaded it to see where he might be wearing half a dozen clips of spare ammo at a pound a time.

BTW; does a Walther PPK only work on ladies or can you kill men with them too?

[Mage]

Ian's Brother was probably the "real" spy

Peter Fleming's books are less numerous and more intriguing for what they don't say.

News From Tartary

The Bond books are "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"* for adults, escapism and not meant to be realistic at all.

(* Yes Ian Fleming was responsible. At least there wasn't a dreadful fake Cockney accent, I think it's possibly better than the Bond Books. I think Leslie Charteris then and Clive Cussler now are better authors of "Bond" type books. The success of the film franchise can't be denied. Sean Connery is my favourite Film Bond.).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ian's Brother was probably the "real" spy

"The Bond books are "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"* for adults, escapism and not meant to be realistic at all."

You mean they're fiction?? Say it ain't so!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ian's Brother was probably the "real" spy

Clive Cussler's earlier books are descent. His, and his son's, more recent books are more along the lines of The Hardy Boys. I'll admit to having read all of them (Hardy Boys) in 9th grade study hall. I've read most of Cussler's books since receiving a box of books from a not-quite very special female friend....and I don't respect her any less for it.

I, too, agree about Connery, and if you can get past the socks, Finding Forrester is acceptable as well (especially the Mr. Scotland photograph on the wall.)

It's a trenchcoat, all spies wear trenchcoats, but I wear one in Atlanta in July because I can.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ian's Brother was probably the "real" spy

"Clive Cussler's earlier books are descent."

Agreed. But then they started doing "Clive Cussler with [author you've never heard of]" and I've read 3 of those and they were all without exception atrocious. They were obviously written by the unknown authors and no doubt what actually happens is that Cussler phones in some rough storyline, the unknown author writes the entire book and cussler turns up 5 mins before printing to rubber stamp it and collect his money. Avoid them like the plague.

[Anonymous Coward]

For some reason, grown men with special forces fantasies always reminds me of this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRunloaOHoA

[Dave 126]

You were in the SAS? What's that, Saturdays and Sundays?!

[streaky]

SAS

There is actually SAS TA Reservists, so you can - technically - be weekend warrior SAS. They're not there for show either :)

[Forget It]

My name is BOND

Baslidon Bond - I've got my silver letter opening and I know how to use it.

[geekclick]

Perfect Friday reading..

Great article, very interesting :)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Perfect Friday reading..

Indeed, although when it comes down to it, and article that states that SIS is not at all interesting. Mind you, paid up cynics will recognise this as propoganda to try and persuade people to join SIS.

"Come on in, it's warm, you don't have to do much, and the pension's lovely" probably makes a better recruitment message than "It's very dangerous, and if Johnny Foreigner doesn't get you, then we might decide to fold you up and stuff you into a holdall"

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Perfect Friday reading..

"Come on in, it's warm, you don't have to do much, and the pension's lovely"

It would appear that SIS have a lot in common with the electricity industry.

[Magister]

Great article

A lot of Fleming's work was inspired by his own experiences during the Second World War. There are a lot of stories that have never been revealed for one reason or another; the activities of SOE are examples of this.

The truth can often be stranger than fiction.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Great article

And let's also remember that his archetypal villain, Blofeld, was named after the Blofeld family that includes the cricket commentator with a liking for cake.

[Chris Miller]

Re: Great article

Fleming was fond of naming characters for real people. Auric Goldfinger was named after the architect Ernő Goldfinger (designer of, inter alia, London's Trellick Tower) and Bond himself after the author of the definitive Birds of the West Indies.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Great article

Yes, and Ernst Stavro Blofeld was named after Thomas Blofeld, the father of Henry Blofeld the well known cricket commentator,

[Grivas Bo Diddly Harm]

Re: Great article

...and a branch of the Scaramanga family, after whom the triple-nipple eponymous villain is named, still live near Bath. One of them had, until recently, a firm selling Quality Cars of the type that Bond might have fancied.

[Andrew Lobban]

Lewis

Articles like this are extremely interesting and this one was also well written, with none of your usual deliberately inflammatory remarks. Apply the same knowledgable and methodical approach to your other articles and your readership will most definitely rise as will your credibility, especially with your climate and nuclear articles. More of this please :)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Lewis

Lewis was in the military so in this instance he knows what he's talking about. Climate science on the other hand he has zero qualifications for and boy does it show.

[Tom 13]

Re: Lewis

You should consider the possibility that Lewis DOES bring his knowledgable and methodical approach to AWG and that it is your own prejudices/religious beliefs which are offended. And yes, he did include a few deliberately inflammatory remarks (which I will let slide unless pressed) because it was, like his climate articles, a fun and informative read.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Lewis

"knowledgable and methodical approach to AWG "

Knowledgable in what? Climate science? Any science? What exactly are his scientific qualifications? I'm sorry, but spending a few years on a ship watching the sea doesn't cut it.

"your own prejudices/religious beliefs which are offended."

Oh right, so going along with the science is a RELIGIOUS belief is it , whereas no doubt your AGW stance going against the science is perfectly rational, right? Hello pot, meet kettle.

"like his climate articles, a fun and informative read"

If I want fun I'll go to The Onion, if I want baseless drivel I'll read a tabloid. But I come to the Register for - hopefully - informed comment from its journalists. Unfortunaly you don't generally get that with Lewis.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Lewis

"I come to the Register for - hopefully - informed comment from its journalists. Unfortunaly you don't generally get that with Lewis"

Well, don't stay round here then. You won't be missed.

[Andrew Lobban]

Re: Lewis @Tom13

I happen to agree with virtually all of the points that Lewis makes in his climate articles, be he presents those articles in such a poor way that he just opens himself up for abuse and the valid points are lost/written off as a result.

[Johan Bastiaansen]

Re: Lewis

"with none of your usual deliberately inflammatory remarks".

I happen to like those.

[OzBob]

I really liked tomlinsons book,..

not so much for the bravado of the special forces stuff, but for the inner politics and nastiness of the public service. Other parts of the civil service are just like this to!

[Echowitch]

Re: I really liked tomlinsons book,..

Ditto, and it did explain why growing up near Portsmouth I'd been approached by slightly odd people in and around Pompey who seemed interested in getting personal details. (MI6 trainee's on "Perfect Stranger" training)

Tomlinson's book is very interesting and whilst I'd say he shot himself in the foot to a small degree, a lot of it was service bollox and bitchiness, the same as you get in civvie street.

[Steve Williams]

On the other hand...

...the "slightly odd people in and around Pompey" may just have been lonely hairy-arsed matelots looking for some companionship on a weekend pass.

[Anonymous Coward]

Similar sort of subject...

..but was sent this via ISN the other day.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-CIA-Burglar-Who-Went-Rogue-169800816.html

Interesting read about the internals of the CIA. I don't know how much of it is truth or not, bearing in mind the source of the material, but even so.

[Alister]

Ok so this is all about Bond...

...but I'm surprised you don't mention Le Carré, as his books gave a much closer representation of the real SIS (although still with a lot of artistic licence).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ok so this is all about Bond...

I think that should have read 'whole lot of artistic license', but the ones I've read have been very well written, in places.

Quite off the subject, all books should be like Stephen King's "Insomnia". I read that one cover-to-cover, realized it was 6am, and then went to work.

[Severen]

Re: Ok so this is all about Bond...

That is an EXCELLENT book!

A gem that slipped under the radar, imo. :-)

[nematoad]

Lucky for you.

"every serviceman is not just licenced but required to kill people if his or her mission demands it."

I was in the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps) and luckily for my fellow squaddies I was NOT required to kill anyone in the performance of my duties. Quite the opposite in fact.

We were issued with a sub-machine gun but it was doubtful who was in more danger whilst we were shooting them us or the supposed enemy!

[Anonymous Coward]

Best Lewis Page article ever

Interesting. Didn't bash the UK hard. A great read. I was waiting for the bit where we should outsource the Secret Services operations to the CIA / NSA and shut down our own because, you know, the US is better and cheaper for everything but it just wasn't there. Loved it.

[Miek]

"However a few female operatives, physically too small to easily handle a full size 9mm pistol" -- and yet an African child can carry and operate an AK-74!!

[Graham Bartlett]

The ability to hold it and pull the trigger does not necessarily imply the ability to put a hole in exactly the place you want a hole to be.

[Miek]

"The female operatives are expected to fire and actually hit something. They may do the "double tap"as described in stories. In that case, they will be likely to put both rounds where it counts." -- The point I was trying to make is that it is sexist to assume that a Woman is not capable of firing a 9mm pistol, accurately or otherwise. I have known several Women who have had gun licenses in other countries and they were perfectly able to fire 9mm pistols, one female friend also owned a snub nosed .45

To anyone who thinks otherwise, I dare you take the "money where your mouth is" test and stand downrange of a lady carrying a 9mm pistol and then see how confident you feel about their lack of ability with such a weapon.

[Miek]

No wrist-breakers here ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi1XNFXsjcA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB0NIDnQ0no

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUKADwRtnuc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMY2I4lcp2A

[Happy Ranter]

re:The female operatives are expected to fire and actually hit something

I've seen professional soldiers who can't shoot a Browning 9mm because its to big for them,

Pistols are by definition short range weapons and I can personally vouch for that fact that after few thousand rounds on the practice ranges, a head shot at 10m is easy. Your desert eagle .50 might make a serious mess of body armour but it kicks like a mule and realisticly, even with a laser sight, you can't fire faster than 1 round a second accurately. For me, at close range, give me a .22 any day. 2-3 accurate rounds a second into the face will put anyone off wanting to play any more and makes body armour irrelevant.

One thing the article did miss, a lot of special forces are recruited from the Royal Engineers. They are generally bigger and stronger than most infantry guys and already know a lot about explosives.

Spawn of Satan cause I know stuff that will scare you

[Spanners]

AK

The female operatives are expected to fire and actually hit something. They may do the "double tap"as described in stories. In that case, they will be likely to put both rounds where it counts.

The child is expected to fire an entire magazine, mostly into the air, with perhaps 1 bullet going near enough the opposition to force them to keep their heads down. Any actual hits are a bonus.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: AK

Most assault weapons are designed to spray bullets around rather than actually be accurate. The sadly deprecated SLR was a rare exception which played to a marksman's strong points but that's gone the way of all good things due to political idiocy and vested interests.

I enjoyed the article a lot but felt - and this is strong, coming from a Scaley - that the RAF got a raw deal. Their drop pilots are absolutely mental and can get you four feet over a mountain under hostile fire at night in a Fat Albert. Those are some serious skills.

Lewis also left out what they now call JSF18 but that's okay - you (the reader) didn't miss much.

[figure 11]

Re: AK

Depends on the rifle. Out to 3-400 yards the replacement for the SLR is if anything far easier to be accurate with and is also not as long as a civil war musket.

[Anonymous Coward]

@figure 11

You're kidding. The SA80 is a bullpup. Both the stock and the barrel are too short for ranged accuracy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @figure 11

I don't think you know how a bullpup works, they reduce overall length without reducing barrel length. Also while the earlier SA80s were dogs they are now pretty good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Whaaaa?

You mean to say that a life within MI* / SIS is not all cruising Aston Martins to Monaco to sip Martinis while playing poker with evil corporation CEOs?

That's that dream ruined!

(Good point about the cars - the NIOs bulletproof car fleet are Skoda Superbs - big, cheap, rugged, reliable and don't stand out anymore than any exec saloon or minicab would!)

[ColonelClaw]

This I can tell you

Growing up as the child of a diplomat, and having spent much of my time abroad moving from country to country, I can confirm that the spies working as diplomats are indeed some of the dullest people you will ever meet. I met quite a few.

"The only Bond-like quality a normal SIS officer will be required to show is the ability to drink heavily and remain functional, as any diplomat must on the embassy cocktail circuit."

That statement is just bollocks, I'm afraid. My dad spent his life hosting such parties and it was normally only the younger diplomats who did any drinking, and even then it was not much (compared to my student days etc). Trust me, the diplomatic service is an incredibly straight and unexciting organisation.

[Alan Brown]

The vast majority of espionage....

... is conducted down at the local library, poring over the stacks.

As with Ultra, the secret is in how information gathered (from newspapers) is collated and interpreted. It's all about anonymous folk in huts, not people running around attracting all the wrong sorts of attention. The greatest danger for a spy is terminal boredom.

James Bond stories in the books are all vignettes. "James Bond" is just a working name for "MI6 operative de jure", no matter what his background might be.

While some of the stuff is based on Fleming's on history, much of his stuff was based on other people's stories. (This is clearer in the books. The movies cleverly tie 3-4 short stories together using different personas as "The MI6 agent" and invent a plotline linking them all, which is why they're sucessful) and it's fairly clear in some of the short stories that "James Bond" didn't survive.

Yes, they ARE chittychittybangbang for adults/teenagers. Doesn't stop 'em being an entertaining read for 15-20 minutes and it suits 2 hour movie formats perfectly. That's why they're so sucessful.

[Dom 3]

Re: The vast majority of espionage....

ITYM "du jour", not "de jure". Different languages, different meanings.

Apart from that - good points.

[Gr0nk]

Castor and

Frankly I think Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is more credible than the Bond franchise.

Ewar Woowar as Callan, on the other hand...

[Kubla Cant]

"a major espionage centre like Vienna"

Spying on the Austrians? Are we after their secret Sachertorte recipe?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "a major espionage centre like Vienna"

No need to spy, I'll tell you : it's all how you glaze the chocolate and the ap*&(*Q${

NO CARRIER

[Scott 2]

Re: "a major espionage centre like Vienna"

You might need to explain the meaning of NO CARRIER to those here who never experienced the joy of dialup BBS's...

[toxicdragon]

Re: "a major espionage centre like Vienna"

I never have and I get its meaning just fine.

[Mage]

Re: "a major espionage centre like Vienna"

or on a radio link ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "a major espionage centre like Vienna"

Probably not any more. But it was once very strategic. Not far from Hungary and what was Czechoslovakia (been through Vienna a few times on my trips to Brataslava, now capital of Slovakia).

So, yes, important from 1945 to 1991. No idea what importance it has now.

Shortly after WII it was divided like Berlin was. "The Third Man" actually has a lot of factual material in it. Though Harry's Quip about the Swiss and Cuckoo clocks is wrong as they were invented in Bavaria and the Swiss Guard was not to be messed with, hence them ending up as the "guards" in the Vatican.

[Lewis Page 1]

Re: "a major espionage centre like Vienna"

I gather what everyone is mainly spying on in Vienna these days is the IAEA, and of course the other spies as they spy on it

[A. Coatsworth]

Re: "a major espionage centre like Vienna"

They are trying to get the secrets of the Hapsburg Napkin Fold, obviously

[JimboSmith]

I read the synopsis of a book about a UK unit that actually carries out the "we didn't do it" killings and it was fascinating but I can't find it now despite scouring Amazon. for example they all use assumed names to help preserve anonymity, however they take this to the nth degree and don't discuss their real identities even within the unit etc. If anyone knows what it was called would you be so kind as to please post the title here.

[Anonymous Coward]

@JimboSmith: I could tell you the book's title, but then I'd have to kill you.

Anon, for obvious reasons.

[Amazon Wageslave]

There have been a few...

The SAS book tsunami of the mid-late 90's had a few along those lines. The unit in question was usually referred to as 14 Int/The Det and operated in NI. It later became the SRR that Lewis mentioned in the article. Andy McNab wrote about having to use an assumed name while attached to 14 Int in "Immediate Action". There was also "The Operators" by James Rennie.

The rationale was pretty simple: If the IRA caught and tortured a plain-clothes operator he or she wouldn't be able to give up any useful info on their colleagues (home addresses and the like). This was at a time when the various pyro-Paddies were targeting military personnel on and off duty on the mainland after all.

[JimboSmith]

Re: There have been a few...

Thank you!

[Local G]

"If anyone knows what it was called"

Ring up the Ecuadorian Embassy.

[Colin Brett]

"for example they all use assumed names to help preserve anonymity, however they take this to the nth degree and don't discuss their real identities even within the unit etc. "

Mr White, Mr Orange, Mr Blonde, Mr Blue, Mr Brown, Mr Pink?

Colin

[OrientalHero]

real deal

For a real deal amongst the US Spec Ops, you might want to check out the Richard Marcinko novels. Whilst the first book is an autobiography (and takes a while to get to the interesting stuff), the rest have to be "fiction". However fictional though, Mr Marcinko adds a realistic amount of detail which one assumes comes from having been there and done it. Also trodden on lots of toes so he's seen as a either a loose cannon or a maverick by the toe owners.

Yeah, and he's about as IT relevant as Bond :)

[Kubla Cant]

Style icon

I first read the Bond books as a teenager, before even the first of the films. At that time we all thought of Bond as a style icon (though the style in question wasn't very attainable for 14-year-olds in 1960).

Nowadays the books are like a window on the past. The Bond style was actually pretty old-school and eccentric* in 1960. I suppose it's actually the style of an old Etonian stockbroker, which is what Fleming was before the war.

* Just a few examples I can remember: short-sleeve shirts with a suit, black lace-up shoes, gentlemen's clubs, German white wine with meals, proudly executing a ski turn called a "sprung Christie".

[Psyx]

Re: Style icon

What's wrong with black, laced shoes?!

[Archibald Trumpetbeetle]

Hmm I'm struggling to find a good angle to

start an Apple vs Android discussion.

[Paul Hovnanian]

What about ....

.... Pussy Galore? The rest of the boring reality I can put up with.

Paris, asking "Speak into what? It's a microphone? Seriously?"

[tkioz]

Top article, the reason why I come to the Reg is these occasional gems.

[DragonLord]

I believe that the SAS and SBS do in fact recruit women, however they don't lower the entrance exam just so that they can pass it. In that they're very equal opportunities - If you're good enough to get in, then welcome to the hell hole.

[Anonymous Coward]

no Special Operations forces in the world recruit women.......at least not officially.

[FrankAlphaXII]

Really?

I'm sure thats news to all of the Female Enlisted and Officers in Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, as well as the Special Operations Aviation Regiment and Intelligence Support Activity, they're all Special Operations Forces and they all take females. Hell, CAPOC puts em in the field even, as does ISA. And with Female Officers from 2013 onward able to lead Infantry and Sapper units, it wont be long until a few of 'em go to SFAS and wind up as Special Forces officers.

When you say Special Operations Forces, especially in regard to the United States, you're talking about a decent sized number of people across all four Services, and its a growing list all the time. If you meant a Special Operations Force specializing in Direct Action, you probably should have said so before you make a claim that you can't back up.

[Grivas Bo Diddly Harm]

Uniform

It's not a very good image, and I don't know the story behind the picture, but that's not a commander's rank on his sleeve. Commander is three rings of the same width (including the executive curl) whereas in the photo it's either a very thick ring (Commodore) or there is a suspision of a line running around making a separate band attached to the curl and another very thick band which would be Rear Admiral.

But, as I said, it's not a very clear image.

Interesting article.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Uniform

He's wearing a Commander's cap though, which suggest that the poor quality photo is obscuring the black space between the lower and middle ring, or the film people completely cocked it up.

[Anonymous Coward]

спасибо

Спасибо вам за это исследование для меня.

Сергей,

ФСБ стажера

[Anonymous Coward]

I was always under the impression

That the Bond films were a documentary.

AC/DC

[koolholio]

A few things need clearing up about this article

The Secret Intelligence Service operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) alongside the internal Security Service (MI5), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the Defence Intelligence (DI).

"GCHQ is the responsibility of the UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, but it is not a part of the Foreign Office, and its Director ranks as a Permanent Secretary."

The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) is the part of the British Cabinet Office and oversees three agencies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Intelligence_Service

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Communications_Headquarters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Intelligence_Committee_(United_Kingdom)

MOD is a defence policy based organisation which scopes the military's armed forces and has its procedures/speciallised branches when liasing with parliament.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Defence_(United_Kingdom)

Rules Of Engagement and Escalation Of Force are probably both set out in policies as methods of defence or conflict with an enemy... (usually on a battlefield? in an armed forces environment?)

Northolt is an RAF base, among others, I have visted a few times for various purposes, The base is home to reservists and the 32 Royal squadron. Station Flight is nothing specific nor anything unusually uncommon? Someone has to run the station!!!

Learn how the RAF formation goes before writing articles spewing nonsense!? Or are you going to write more nonsense including "Strike Command's Operations Centre nuclear bunker at RAF High Wycombe"? Perhaps you would like to take a tour of a training base before you write your next scientifically incorrect artifact?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Northolt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_High_Wycombe

[figure 11]

Pistols

I carried a pistol only a handful of times in my time in the Army, indeed I don't remember seeing anyone below the rank of Colonel with one on more than a handful of occasions.

[Random Yayhoo]

Across the pond...

...there was an 007: the late great Roy Boehm, R.I.P. He was an U.S. government assassin, a shark jumper/killer (a sad and bizarre example of species revenge), a commando, founder of Seal Team Two, hero in 3 hot wars and a human sea surface delivery vehicle (along with his buddy Lump Lump) for an American nuke expert who confirmed Soviet IRBMs in Cuba *firsthand.* Read his book First Seal to learn his story.

[Anonymous Coward]

Soldier SAS books?

Anyone remember the Soldier SAS books from the 90s? Soldier A, B, C, D etc

These are depicted as being fictional but I could have sworn one of them was an autobiography. Any ideas?

[Is it me?]

Wot!

No, "How dare the government do this kind of thing in our name", has the readership grown up suddenly.

Good article, how about the other bits that your readership seems to think are capable of bond like capabilities. We tend to think CSI, Spooks and a like reflect reality. How about a technology Mythbusters series.

[me n u]

Bond who?

Good thing the ole US of A has Jason Bourne! He'll kick Bond's ass up side one and down side two, all day long!

I can sleep better now

[koolholio]

Station Flight means simply, a Flight that deals with the Station. Just like Squadrons deal with Training! Hope the CO approves else this may just get escalated.

[Anonymous Coward]

"The [...] SBS [...] are grudgingly acknowledged to exist"

Fairly open 'secret' the SBS exists.

Happens my uncle was in the SBS during the war ('45) and a more humane, decent and less (apparently) lethal man would be hard to imagine. RIP MSR.

[Robert Flatters]

This might be a bit of nit picking the rank on bonds uniform is that of a commondor. commander rank is 3 stripes.