The tradition of the Service is that all Chiefs are known as C and sign their documents using green ink. The Secret Intelligence Service, sometimes known as MI6, originated in 1909 as the Foreign Section of the Secret Service Bureau, under RNR Commander, later Captain, Sir Mansfield Cumming, which was responsible for gathering intelligence overseas. The Act defines the functions of the Service and the responsibilities of its Chief, as well as establishing control and oversight arrangements. The Service's principal role is the production of secret intelligence in support of Her Majesty's Government's security, defence, foreign and economic policies within the framework of requirements laid upon it by the JIC and approved by Ministers. It meets these JIC requirements for intelligence gathering and other tasks through a variety of sources, human and technical, and by liaison with a wide range of foreign intelligence and security services.
Specific operations are subject to longstanding procedures for official and ministerial clearance.
The main training centre is Fort Monckton, a Napoleonic fort on the south coast at Gosport in Hampshire. What is thought to have been MI6's former City of London office is located in an office block in the Square Mile. The Service employed 2,300 staff as of March 1994, with a reported annual budget of some 150M, though these numbers have declined somewhat in recent years. On 1 September 1999, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook confirmed the appointment of Richard Dearlove OBE as Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, succeeding Sir David Spedding, who is retiring from the Service. Postings in Nairobi, Prague and Paris.