Sir Alex Younger: UK spy chief who cracked the Hamid Karzai code with his mum-in-law’s blackberry jam

Younger, who took the reins of MI6 when UK was dealing with Brexit, growing Russia & ISIL, has died at the age of 62. He was Britain's longest serving spy chief.

File photo of Sir Alex Younger | Source: gov.uk

New Delhi: Sir Alex Younger, the longest serving British spy chief in half a century, has died at the age of 62. Younger, during whose 2014-20 tenure the United Kingdom had to deal with a number of global challenges, including the war against the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL) and Russia’s expansionism in eastern Europe, led MI6 through a transitional period including the British exit from the European Union (EU).

As the head of MI6, Younger oversaw the extensive British national security apparatus, including attending the UK’s national security council meetings and advising at least three Prime Ministers during his tenure.

Younger’s five-year tenure was extended in 2019 by a year, to allow for continuity during the UK’s exit from the EU. The head of MI6 is the only publicly named agent of the British intelligence services. Furthermore, the head of MI6 is also known as ‘C’ after the first chief of the intelligence service Mansfield Smith-Cumming.

Through his tenure as the head of MI6, Younger attempted to make the organisation more public. The intelligence services were only publicly acknowledged by the British government in 1994, despite its existence since at least 1909. MI6 became famously known for literary characters from John Le Carre’s novels or even James Bond, the swashbuckling spy written by Ian Fleming.

“We do things in defence of national security that would not be justified in pursuit of private interest. But only when they are judged by ministers to be necessary and proportionate. We break the rules, certainly; we do not break the law,” said Younger in a letter to the editor of The Economist in 2017.

The former British spy chief added: “But it is certainly true that a country’s intelligence service can offer an unvarnished reflection of the values of the country it serves. The Stasi told you all you needed to know about the East German regime. The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), and our sister services, GCHQ and MI5, tell you a lot about modern Britain.”

A career intelligence officer from 1991, Younger was born on 4 July 1963. An alumna of the University of St. Andrews, with a degree in economics and computer science, Younger eventually joined the British Army after attending the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst.

A footsoldier first

He was a platoon commander in the Scots Guards, the elite infantry regiment. Eventually he rose to the rank of Captain before leaving the military.

In a public conversation in 2019, Younger admitted he received the famous “tap on the shoulder” inviting him to join MI6, a surprise to the future spy chief. Joining at the end of the Cold War in 1991, Younger eventually served in overseas positions across Europe and was the senior SIS officer in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, Younger in an attempt to get more access to then President Hamid Karzai, cracked the code through a jar of homemade blackberry jam. Noting that Karzai liked to dip jam in his tea to ward off colds, and competing with the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for time with the Afghan President, Younger sent the Central Asian leader shipments of blackberry jam made by his mother-in-law.

His first job at MI6 was to penetrate an organisation intent on genocide in the western Balkans in the mid-1990s. Eventually in 2012 he rose to oversee intelligence operations of the SIS globally, before becoming ‘C’ in 2014. Younger also led the agency’s work on counter-terrorism for three-years leading up to the 2012 London Olympics.

“My boss at the time John Sawers suggested to me that I might be his successor amongst others, but he said I was in the frame. That was an extraordinary moment. It had never occurred to me that that was a path I might follow… I never saw myself as a senior leader and it completely changed my attitude,” Younger explained in a conversation organised by the Chancellor of his alma mater a few years ago.

During his tenure at the head of MI6 one of the biggest challenges Younger faced was the growing activities of Russia. The Salisbury poisonings in the months of March and June 2018 occurred during his tenure.

Sergei Skripal, the Russian double agent, and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in March 2018. The two survived the attack, which was found to be Novichok applied on Skripal’s door-knob at the entrance of his house.

Months later Dawn Sturgess died from Novichok poisoning on 8 July, 2018. Sturgess was poisoned after spraying herself with the nerve agent from a perfume bottle which contained a significant amount of Novichok. The bottle was picked up by her husband at a charity collection bin.

It was also during his tenure when twenty-two people were killed in a suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena in 2017 during Ariana Grande’s concert. Over 1,000 people were injured in the attack.

Younger was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019, before retiring from MI6 in 2020. Post his career in government service, Younger joined Goldman Sachs as an adviser.

(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)