__NOTOC__
The Director General of the Security Service is the head of the Security Service (commonly known as
MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
), the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
's internal
counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...
and
security agency
A security agency is a governmental organization that conducts intelligence activities for the internal security of a nation. They are the domestic cousins of foreign intelligence agencies, and typically conduct counterintelligence to thwart other ...
. The Director General is assisted by a Deputy Director General and an Assistant Director General, and reports to the
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...
, although the Security Service is not formally part of the
Home Office.
List of directors general
Directors General have been:
#
Maj Gen Sir Vernon Kell, 1909–1940
#
Brigadier 'Jasper' Harker, ''
Acting'', June 1940 – April 1941
#
Sir David Petrie, 1941–1946
#
Sir Percy Sillitoe, 1946–1953
#
Sir Dick White, 1953–1956
#
Sir Roger Hollis, 1956–1965
#
Sir Martin Furnival Jones, 1965–1972
#
Sir Michael Hanley, 1972–1978
#
Sir Howard Smith, 1978–1981
#
Sir John Jones, 1981–1985
#
Sir Antony Duff, 1985–1988
#
Sir Patrick Walker, 1988–1992
#
Dame Stella Rimington, 1992–1996
#
Sir Stephen Lander, 1996–2002
#
Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, 2002–2007
#
Sir Jonathan Evans, 2007–2013
#
Sir Andrew Parker, 2013–2020
#
Ken McCallum
Kenneth Douglas McCallum is a British intelligence officer who has been serving as the Director General of MI5 since 2020.
Early life and education
McCallum was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1974. He attended a state school, after which he read ...
, from 2020
See also
*
Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service
The chief of the Secret Intelligence Service serves as the head of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also commonly known as MI6), which is part of the United Kingdom intelligence community. The chief is appointed by the foreign secretary, to ...
*
Director of the Government Communications Headquarters __NOTOC__
The Director of the Government Communications Headquarters is the highest-ranking official in the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a British intelligence agency that specialises in signals intelligence, information assurance ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
List of Directors General on the MI5 website
*MI5