Customer Reviews

Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5

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I purchased this book after hearing an interview with Ms. Rimington on BBC 4, and I must say, I found her engaging both on the radio and in print. She is a talented writer, whose eventful life--from childhood during the blitz, through her days as a diplomatic wife in India; her experiences as an archivist; and her almost accidental career in MI5 [the old-school-tie male bastion which she penetrated with panache]--is related with considerable charm and humor (essential requirements for being an effective spy).

On the back of the book, under a series of rave blurbs is a negative one by an individual of the male persuasion, whose non-endorsement guaranteed my determination to read the book. And I quote: "The most effective Secret Service is the one which is secret. She should shut up."

Well, that horse was stolen from the barn years ago, and the service that once dared not speak its name has long since--thanks to ex-intelligence officers writing their memoirs right and left--become the service that will not shut up!

Stella Rimington, the intelligent woman who made it to the director-generalship of MI5, adds a refreshing perspective to the male-dominated literature of British intelligence.

This is the first autobiography of the first female head of MI5, the UK's internal security agency. It was published in 2001, to a wave of negative publicity. Apart from the politicians who disparaged the apparent breach of security, there were quite a few negative reviews stating that Ms. Rimington wrote out of feeling of guilt at having disrupted her daughters lives by her choice of career.
Overall the book does not reveal anything about MI5, other than the thinking behind the decision to openly acknowledge its existence, and expose it to more parliamentary oversight, which happened during the 1990s. Ms. Rimington does describe in convincing terms the struggle to be taken seriously, as a female professional, during her time in MI5 from the late 1960s. She seems to have met the challenges with great determination. Her personal life seems to have been greatly affected by her work, though her marriage seems to have been rocky in any case. She lived with her daughters in London, however there were many intrusions and changes of address necessitated by
The needs of security and the fear of exposure and publicity. There is an authentic feel from one story, where she was secretly meeting a potential agent in London, when she got a call that her daughter was ill, Rimington had to borrow money from the potential agent for taxi fare, cut short the meeting and go to pick up her daughter.
I liked the book, as I had not expected much information about MI5, and found it very honest about her personal struggle. There is the usual stuff about MI5's failures being public and its successes being secret, and what a motivated bunch they are. I would have preferred some discussion about how MI5 (along with other agencies) missed the collapse of the USSR, did not forecast the IRA ceasefire; however I was not expecting it.
One indication of the difficulties Rimington experienced in getting the book published is the ending - there is an Afterword, a Postcript and an Epilogue; all in various ways trying to counter the criticism she was enduring.

I've just finished reading Ms Rimington's novels and thought I would like to know more about the woman behind them. This book provides an interesting snapshot of the times in which Ms Rimington worked: the changing face of security-related work; the changing expectations of women in the workforce and the ever present challenges of tradeoff between family and career that many of us (whether male or female) will recognise.

The book itself is more a careful memoir than an autobiography as, clearly, Ms Rimington had to write within certain constraints in order to be allowed to publish at all.

I found the book useful and interesting on three levels:

1. Ms Rimington's persistence in seeking promotion within a field which was considered to be a male domain;

2. Her recounting of the acknowledgement of the existence and broad responsibilities of MI5 during its shift from the shadows to statutory accountability; and

3. Some of the challenges she and her family faced in trying to combine family life with her career.

Many people, particularly women who've chosen to combine career with family will relate to the challenges faced by Ms Rimington. Some of us, familiar with some of the events broadly recounted in the book will be interested in reading Ms Rimington's perspective. Reading the book 7 years after publication, it is perhaps difficult to appreciate the negative publicity engendered at the time. Perhaps we have travelled some distance after all.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Heard about Stella Rimington after an NPR interview for her latest US release. Rounded up copies of all her available books and set in to them. Started with this, an informative but obviously constrained work that details her life from childhood to leaving MI5. No revealing secrets about the inner workings of British Intelligence. I'm guessing the "fuss" made by the office for her desire to publish her memoirs and her requirement to submit it for review first allowed for sanitization by the authorities. That or nothing really ever happens On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I got the impression they break for a drink quite a bit over there, even during work. Typical British casual attitude toward it all, but she did battle through a lot of the usual male dominance of society which cost her a quiet family. It was her choice in the end and it appears to have worked out for her. Dim view of Americans, but that is to be expected from non-Americans. Not a fascinating and captivating book, but informative about the person.