Colin McColl

Colin McColl    (Spook, Diplomat)
Colin McColl has appeared in public, but refused to be photographed
Born	Colin Hugh Verel McColl 6 September 1932
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Oxford University/Queen's College
Head of MI6  Scottish American Investment Company/Director In office 17 January 1996 - 24 March 2004  Advisory Board Member In office 1998 - Present Employer ManTech International Corporation serving as of 2001  Director of Pegasus Security Group In office 1999 - Present  Advisory Director of Campbell Lutyens In office 1995 - Present serving as of 2001  Consultant In office 1994 - Present Employer Oxford Analytica Limited serving as of 2001  Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service In office November 1988 - September 1994 Deputy Gerry Warner Preceded by Christopher Curwen Succeeded by David Spedding Chosen "to give a more dynamic lead as someone prepared to instigate change."

Sir Colin Hugh Verel McColl, KCMG was Head of MI6 from 1989 to 1994. Wikipedia has 5 sentences about him as of February 2019.

MI6 Career

Sir Colin McColl was chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from November 1988 - September 1994. The New York Times reported that he was named to head the Secret Intelligence Service in 1989 by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

On 2 September 1991, addressing new SIS recruits beginning their training course, McColl confidently assured them of plenty of "unpredictability and instability" in the post-Cold War era.

Exposure

McColl was the subject of an internal investigation and was ‘outed’ by the UK Prime Minister John Major who in May 1992 announced in Parliament that McColl was indeed the head of the Security Services.

1994 Intelligence Services Bill

In November 1993, as the 1994 Intelligence Services Bill was threatening to put the UK "intelligence services" on a statutory footing, he "emerged from the shadows for the first time" to reassure MI6 officers, stating that "I am very anxious I give some sort of signal (to MI6 agents abroad) that we are not going to open up our files, we are not going to allow ourselves to be undressed in public with their names as part of our baggage". He refused to be photographed, as the Independent put it, to "reassure agents in the field that their identities would be protected". McColl left MI6 a month before the bill came into force.

Later Activities

Sir Colin McColl has put his experience in the field of international espionage and "national security" to use in a variety of institutions, both commercial and non-commercial. In 1994 he became "a consultant for Oxford Analytica, an international consulting firm, focusing on political and economic affairs."

In 1996 he was made a director of the Scottish American Investment Company at some point, and was chairman of two charitable trusts involving education for disadvantaged children and assistance for foreign service retirees.

In 1998 he became Advisory Board Member for the ManTech International Corporation (a multi-billion dollar "provider of technologies and solutions for mission-critical national security programs for the Intelligence Community, Departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security and Justice, and other United States federal government agencies").

He was made an honorary fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford.

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