How elite is the 00 section?

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  • IanTIanT Posts: 573MI6 Agent
    Has anyone read The Operators by James Rennie? There's a cracking account of the selection process for 14 Intelligence Company in it.

    Also there was a reality TV show in Britain a few years back similar to SAS: are you tough enough where some people trained as spies before completing a mission in Iceland.

    That was quite good.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    :)) I was thinking of that show just the other day, couldn't remember the
    Name of it. I remember the first show, where they were taken blindfolded
    To have an interview, let's say. ;)
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Asp9mmAsp9mm Over the Hills and Far Away.Posts: 7,541MI6 Agent
    IanT wrote:
    Has anyone read The Operators by James Rennie? There's a cracking account of the selection process for 14 Intelligence Company in it.

    I wouldn't take what's written in that book as gospel. Far from it :# But he did respect the OSA which many authors of the time didn't.
    ..................Asp9mmSIG-1-2.jpg...............
  • David.247David.247 UKPosts: 29MI6 Agent
    Sir Miles wrote:
    Firemass wrote:
    The current system is a catch 22: You have to kill 2 people in order to obtain your licence to kill ? How are you supposed to kill anyone without the license?

    Just because Bond killed some thug in a bathroom fight (CR06) means that he's 1/2 way to becoming a 00 agent ? Doesn't make much sense to me.

    It's not just about 'killing two people' - if it were then half the army would be double-0 agents !

    It's about completing 'kills' that you are given on behalf of the Government in a subversive manner - you would have to complete them satisfactorily to earn your double-0 status...

    I always thought the same, you kill two people on the governments say so, you get your 00 licence then you can kill anybody without the express authorization from the government provided you had good cause.
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    This ^

    An Agent has to kill two Targets that have been selected by their Superior to receive the 00 Number.

    Bond killed a Japanese Cypher Expert who was cracking Britain's Codes, and then he killed a Norwegian Double- Agent.
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • IanTIanT Posts: 573MI6 Agent
    Asp9mm wrote:
    IanT wrote:
    Has anyone read The Operators by James Rennie? There's a cracking account of the selection process for 14 Intelligence Company in it.

    I wouldn't take what's written in that book as gospel. Far from it :# But he did respect the OSA which many authors of the time didn't.

    Oh I know it's not gospel, but it's still a good read.

    One day I might write an account of my adventures, adjusted for interest and excitement obvs.
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    edited May 2015
    There is something that I've always wondered, but do you think a 00 Agent can become the new 'M'?

    Even though Agents are taken out of the 00 Section in there early 40's.
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • IanTIanT Posts: 573MI6 Agent
    Yes, but not directly. So in YOLT Bond is "promoted" and loses his 00 number. He remains a member of the Secret Service, just not a 00.

    In time he could be promoted further to M 's position.

    Just because he has to stop being a 00 at 45, doesn't stop him from being employed.
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    Yes, 7777 -{
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • CmdrAtticusCmdrAtticus United StatesPosts: 1,102MI6 Agent
    Though Fleming mentions a 0011, I always assumed the codes were randomly assigned when an agent was given a 00 in order to confuse anyone trying to get info on them. That would mean they could have only a handful of agents and still make it difficult to figure out exactly how many there were.
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,926MI6 Agent
    The are only three Agents with the 00 Number in the Books. With 008 making it through the Iron Curtain ( as described in the MR Novel)
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 38,083Chief of Staff
    For a list of the (fictional) 00 agents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/00_Agent#List_of_00s
  • perdoggperdogg Posts: 432MI6 Agent
    osris wrote:
    If the 00 status is awarded to an agent because they’ve killed someone, and thus are seen worthy of being recruited into the 00 section, wouldn’t this mean that any agent (regardless of competence) who had killed someone in the course of their career could be made a 00? If so, then how is the 00 section “elite”? Surely to be elite, it would have to limit itself to accepting only those agents who were the best, and not just who had killed.

    Wouldn’t it be better (and in real life it would probably work this way, if a 00 section really existed) if the 00 section recruited the best standard intelligence duty agents from MI6, trained them up to SAS standards, then gave them a licence to kill? This would be a more professional and organised way of doing things.

    This is why I never believe Bond worked for MI6. MI6 is just a marketing brand. I believe the Fleming Bond worked for Naval Intelligence Division
    "And if I told you that I'm from the Ministry of Defence?" James Bond - The Property of a Lady
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 22,427MI6 Agent
    perdogg wrote:
    osris wrote:
    If the 00 status is awarded to an agent because they’ve killed someone, and thus are seen worthy of being recruited into the 00 section, wouldn’t this mean that any agent (regardless of competence) who had killed someone in the course of their career could be made a 00? If so, then how is the 00 section “elite”? Surely to be elite, it would have to limit itself to accepting only those agents who were the best, and not just who had killed.

    Wouldn’t it be better (and in real life it would probably work this way, if a 00 section really existed) if the 00 section recruited the best standard intelligence duty agents from MI6, trained them up to SAS standards, then gave them a licence to kill? This would be a more professional and organised way of doing things.

    This is why I never believe Bond worked for MI6. MI6 is just a marketing brand. I believe the Fleming Bond worked for Naval Intelligence Division

    In my opinion it doesn't work like that. I believe the agents train to be accepted to the 00-section. At the end of the training period they are assigned two assassination missions. If they are successful they become 00-agents.
  • CmdrAtticusCmdrAtticus United StatesPosts: 1,102MI6 Agent
    Fleming worked in Naval Intelligence and made Bond a commander in the Naval Reserve (as Fleming was). Fleming was given the rank as soon as he was recruited because he was appointed as the aide to the head of Naval Intelligence and only an officer of that rank could be in that position. Normally a regular officer would have to be in the navy many years to achieve that rank (I think at least twenty). Fleming created Bond and his Secret Service as fictional counterparts to the real commandos and agents he worked with during the war - especially his own commandos and SOE agents.

    His fictional Secret Service was modeled after MI6 - because they do the spying outside the Britain - but he scaled down the size of it, put the headquarters in a different London location, and gave it a 00 section. That section was staffed by a small group of men who would have been former SOE agents/commandos/UD experts (which is what Bond could have been since he was trained in UD work). In order to become a member of the 00 unit, they had to assassinate two targets picked out by the government for termination. Since this is being done during peacetime (even though during a cold war) and in cold blood, it would take someone who could be professional enough to do it.

    In Fleming's Secret Service, potential 00 agents would have been recruited from these types of former agents since they would already have had experience in the field. Any further training would only be in espionage work, as some may have only had experience in demolition jobs or training partisans, etc.. For example, if Bond had worked as a UD frogman, he would have had to had further training to become a spy.
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