British intelligence will be headed by a woman for the first time in history

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the appointment of the first woman in history to head the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

This is reported by BAKU.WS with reference to Bloomberg.

According to the statement, 47-year-old Blaze Metreveli will become the new head of MI6, replacing Richard Moore in this position this fall. Currently, she is the Director General for Technology and Innovation in this intelligence service.

Starmer noted that the appointment comes at a time "when the work of our intelligence services has never been more important."

"The United Kingdom faces threats of unprecedented scale - whether it's aggressors who send their spy ships into our waters, or hackers whose sophisticated cyber conspiracies aim to disrupt our public services," said the head of the British government.

Metreveli will be the 18th head of MI6 and the first woman in this position, usually referred to by the letter "C" rather than the code name "M," which Judi Dench used when portraying the fictional MI6 chief created by Ian Fleming in the James Bond films.

The designation comes from the name of Captain Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, the first chief of the service, who signed correspondence with the letter "C" in green ink.

As reported, Metreveli as the head of MI6 will be the only publicly named member of the organization.

She joined the intelligence service in 1999, worked throughout Europe and the Middle East, and previously held the position of director at MI5 (the country's domestic intelligence service).