‘I had one of MI6’s most dangerous jobs – I had 14 aliases’

A former MI6 intelligence officer has revealed how his job required him to operate alone in hostile states across the world.

Matthew Dunn was recruited to the Secret Intelligence Service in 1996 by his university professor and used up to 14 aliases in order to conceal his identity.

He explained he even had to keep his family in the dark about his high-risk profession, which involved targeting high-ranked figures in hostile countries in one of the service’s most dangerous roles.

Mr Dunn, 57, said: ‘At peak I had 14 alias identities.

‘It means you need to be that person – or as much that person as possible to withstand a degree of scrutiny.

‘For example at entry and exit of ports – where one can naturally be questioned.’

The former MI6 spy explained that cloaking his identity involved far more than just changing his name, but reinventing his entire background including his education and even the type of beer available at his local pub.

To make things even more confusing, he used many of his alter egos concurrently.

‘So if somebody starts probing, you can talk for a period of time’, he said.

Mr Dunn was headhunted by MI6 and revealed that many people join the service after being picked up by talent spotters.

He said: ‘I think deep down, the ability to do it, is within the individual.

‘MI6 are recruiting spies before they are spies.’

Explaining how he entered the service, he said that he discussed with his professor his love spy fiction, including John Le Carré novels.

‘He asked me what I envisaged doing after graduation and as a youngster I was very interested in books and I encountered spy fiction.

‘Later on, he finally said there was some people in London he’d like me to meet and I said ‘of course.’

‘I met the aforementioned people and their opening question was, “Do you know who you’re talking to?” and I said, “Yes, you’re MI6.”‘

Reflecting on the secretive job, he said: ‘The nature of espionage by nature is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world – it always carries that threat.

‘That was a given – it’s illegal in most countries around the world, including ours, yet here we are all playing the game.

‘My personal experience of operating was that I was always aware of that threat, but on occasion it was thrust in my face and I can’t go into anymore detail on that.’

But he added his activities rarely but him in a position of ‘fear’.

Mr Dunn’s work saw him commended by the then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for an operation that significantly enhanced the security of Great Britain and its allies.

Now a bestselling author and security expert, the former MI6 operative is launching a stage production aimed at thrusting audiences into life at an SIS command centre in a high-stakes operation.

The upcoming show will soon begin a run of 70 dates at venues across the country.

‘Audiences, whether theatre or movies, have this sense of the way of life of MI6 but we knew to a large extent that is a heavily fictionalised version’, Mr Dunn said.

‘We want to make it rooted in reality and what’s going on now – to show how it would actually be conducted.

‘We thought it would be great on a stage – right up close and personal, to make the audience part of the experience.’

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