The real James Bonds

BBC Learning EnglishLondon LifeThe real James BondsCallum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is LondonLife.
　　On the banks for the River Thames at a place calledVauxhall there's a verydistinctive building. In the movies this building is thehome of James Bond. In real life? It's also the home ofBritain's Secret Intelligence Service.
　　The new James Bond film Casino Royale is proving verysuccessful at the box office. James Bond is an agent, a spyfor the British Secret service. He famously has a licenseto kill – official permission to kill people. But what isthe job of a real secret service agent? Do they live asexciting and glamorous 2 a life as James Bond does and dothey have a license 1 to kill?
　　Recently the BBC's Colin Murray had the opportunity tointerview two real secret service officers as they areknown. Because of the job that they do their identitiesremain secret and their voices were electronically changed.
　　Listen to one of the officers now, Officer A, and try tocatch the following information. What is the name of theorganisation they work for, and what is the role of thatorganisation?
　　Officer AWe 4're both officers of the secret intelligence servicewhich most people know as MI6 and is indeed theorganisation that James Bond is supposed to work for andit's the organisation 3 that collects secret intelligenceoverseas for the British Government which is unlike thesecurityservice, MI5, which is responsible for domestic security inthe UK.
　　London Life  ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 1 of 3bbclearningenglish.comCallum: Did you catch the information? They work for theSecret Intelligence Service,which most commonly known as MI6. Their job is to collectsecret intelligence overseas. In other words they have toget secret information from foreign countries.
　　Officer A and B are operational officers and their job isto recruit sources, to recruit sources, which means theyget people to work for them and give them information. Theofficers explain a little more about their roles.
　　Officers A & BWhat we do is identify individuals who've got, can provide,the intelligence that we need and our job is to establish arelationship with them and then to develop thatrelationship to the point where they are motivated to workwith us and help us.
　　It's basically about finding people and talking to them,communicating with them and encouraging them to help us, tohelp the British government understand and mitigate 5 thethreats that we all face.
　　Callum: Their jobs are to encourage people to talk to themand give them information. For what reason? To help thegovernment understand and mitigate threats, to understandand mitigate threats. This means they try to getinformation which will help the government stop attacksagainst the country.
　　We've heard what the real officers do, but what about howthey go about it doing it. Do real MI6 officers have, likeJames Bond, a license to kill? Here's Officer AOfficer ANo, it's a complete myth.
　　Callum: No, they don't, it's a complete myth, he says. Acomplete myth, there's no truth in it at all. Officer Agoes on to explain more.
　　Officer ANo, it's a complete myth. I'm sorry, it's good to be ableto say that. The job of the service is to obtainintelligence to inform government policy and to helpprevent, for example, terrorist attacks.
　　In doing that we work under UK law and the work of theservice is overseen 6 both politically and legally. Sothere's absolutely no room in that for killing 7 people.
　　Callum: Their work, he says, is overseen politically andlegally. Politicians and lawyers make sure that what theydo is within the law and the law does not allow for killingpeople.
　　So is there anything about the job that is like the filmcharacter James Bond? What about other things like gadgetsand people with letters for their job position. In the Bondfilms the head of the service is known as 'M' and the manwho provides all the gadgets 8 is 'Q'. Do they exist inreality?
　　Officer AWe don't have an 'M' but we do have a 'C' He is 'C' That'swhat the chief of the service has been called since it wasestablished back in 1909. And we also have a 'Q' figurewhose team is responsible innovative 9 technology andgimmicks and gadgets and things like that. We do usetechnology and some of it is pretty coolCallum: So 'M' is actually 'C' but 'Q' does exist and isresponsible for gadgets, some of which, he says are prettycool!
　　Well that's all from our short look into the lives of thereal James Bonds. And why did MI6 allow two of theirofficers to be interviewed? Well, they are trying torecruit new members of the service. They even have awebsite if you are interested.