HIDDEN IDENTITY

So she is allowed to tell people what she does? “Yes, but it’s about discretion, and it’s there to protect me. I’m working with sensitive information and there are people out there looking to potentially exploit that.” Blackmail? She nods. “Fewer than 10 people in the world know what I do, and they include close girlfriends and my ex-boyfriend.” It’s something that’s been difficult for her parents, “They couldn’t tell their friends [when I got the job], they couldn’t tell anyone ‘look at what my daughter has achieved’ since. That is hard on them.”

Instead, recruits are given a cover story and trained how to use it. What’s hers? “Civil servant. I run a team that write reports for Whitehall.” And when people probe? “You’re trained to think, ‘What is it that [this person] is actually looking to learn? Do you want to know that I read top secret documents that morning?’”

Laura is now single and dating. “When I meet a guy do I tell him what I do? No. It is part of the role and it’s hard. Anyway, on dates I’m put off by someone who asks questions about [my job]. It’s harder when you get into a relationship, choosing the right time to tell them and choosing how to tell them.” It’s a situation Laura’s faced. She waited six months before telling her (then) boyfriend the truth. “I decided to sit him down and tell him when I saw myself being with him long-term. First I talked to the office, asked is it OK. Then I said ‘look, this is what I do.’ He wasn’t shocked, and it was a relief, it was nice to bring someone in, to let them into my world.”

Are there rules on who she can date? “There isn’t a tick list, it’s not that you can’t date someone from that country or that religion. But you have to consider if that person brings vulnerabilities to you, if they’re involved in criminal activity for example.” A little later she adds, “If you work here you would think that you would have good judgment on men,” she says with a laugh, “but all women have some weaknesses!”

DOUBLE AGENTS

Women like Laura are key to MI5’s success. It’s 20 years since Stella Rimington was appointed MI5’s first female head and today women make up 41% of the workforce. Laura talks about her own, rigorous, recruitment process. She applied online after a talk at university – no mysterious tap on the shoulder. First came a test in London (“to see how quickly you’re able to make key judgments and draw out key pieces of intelligence”), a telephone interview and then an assessment centre. “A whole day testing your analytical skills, your communication skills, how quickly you process and relay information.”

As a journalist it’s a real struggle not to probe further. But while Laura laughingly confirms they didn’t test how well she can leap from buildings, the exact details need to be skimmed over; it’s vital people who might present a risk can’t trick their way in. The history of the Secret Service shows what happens when they do. One of the darkest chapters was the Cambridge Five; a group of British men recruited as Soviet agents while students at Cambridge in the Thirties. They went on to get jobs in UK government departments that enabled them to pass information to the Russians. One, Anthony Blunt, joined MI5 and another, Kim Philby, joined MI6. Lives were undoubtedly lost because of their actions.

Someone to watch over you