SIS, aka MI6...A little bit of History

As I've already said in the post Secrecy...Pro & Con cryptography departements have a story that dates back in ancient times...but if it's of proprer organizations, meaning agency, that we're talking about, the're first appereance is way more tardive....In particular, in the case of the SIS, the foundation year, as reported by the agency itself, is the 1909 with the Name of Secret Services Bureau, as a response to the continuous and threatening expansion of the German military and naval army, but its exhistance hadn't been revealed until the 1994 even if rumors were already spread by the publication of the literary succes of the James Bond Series by Ian Flemming.

Actually there were already multiples sign of activity since the late 15th century, at the time of  Tudors: there were infact powerful names like Cromwelles, which was intercecting messages in the country and abroad for Henry VIII, and Sir Francis Walsingham, Private Secretary for Elizabeth I, which discovered the conspiracy against the Queen directed by Mary the queen of Scots...
(further description about this episode can be found in the first chapter of The Code book, by Simon Singh)


The SIS is a the military inteligence section 6 (MI6), and it is divided its self in braches in which  the S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive) was included and that still includes the G.C.H.Q, the unit responsible for Signal Inteligence (SIGINT) and information insurance, and the G.C.&C.S., the code-breacking division creating during the WWII.

If you want to discover all the incredible men who took the lead of this incredible department:
https://www.sis.gov.uk/our-history/previous-chiefs.html

It is possible to find more information about the Historical Events affected by the work of the SIS checking the two links below:
https://www.sis.gov.uk/our-history.html
http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=3683
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Intelligence_Service

Or in alternative in the book
MI6: The history of the Secret Inteligence Service from 1909-1949, by Prof. Keith JEFFERY,  [click on the title for a preview]