Former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger has died at age 62 after being treated for cancer, according to a statement from his family reported by BBC News. Younger led the Secret Intelligence Service from 2014 to 2020, capping a career in British intelligence that began when he joined the service in 1991 after serving as a British Army officer.
Younger held postings in Europe, the Middle East and Afghanistan before entering intelligence. In the mid-1990s he worked in the western Balkans, a role he later said paved the way for the prosecution of war criminals. He went on to head counter-terrorism at MI6, including preparations for the 2012 London Olympics.
He succeeded Sir John Sawers as head of MI6 in late 2014, taking on a raft of challenges: countering jihadist attack plots against the West, monitoring and containing Iran’s nuclear program, and attempting to anticipate Russia’s moves in Ukraine.
During his tenure, Younger became one of the more publicly visible MI6 chiefs. In a 2016 speech he said that James Bond “would have to change his ways” to be recruited by the modern service, though he acknowledged the fictional spy had “created a powerful brand for MI6.” The following year he revealed that the real Q — the head of gadgetry in the Bond films — was a woman, part of a push to encourage more women to apply to the agency.
In a 2018 speech at St Andrews University, Younger called for a new generation of officers to meet “the threats of the hybrid age,” saying the modern intelligence agency faced not only the “persistent and evolving threat from terrorism” but also “additional complexity of the threats posed by nation states” operating in grey areas and a new era of technological demands.
His time as intelligence chief was marked by personal tragedy. In early 2019 his son Sam, 22, a student at the University of Edinburgh, was killed in a motor vehicle accident on a private estate in Stirlingshire, Scotland. His term as MI6 head was due to end in 2019 but he was asked to stay on another year to steer the agency through Brexit, the Times reported.
After leaving MI6 in 2020, Younger advised the private sector and commentated on global security. In February 2023 he told the BBC the UK needed to “wake up” to the security threats posed by China after the US military shot down a Chinese spy balloon. In December 2024 he told the BBC the world was living through a “much more dangerous time” than previous decades, adding that Britain was no longer a “status quo actor” and needed a “total change of mindset.”
Earlier this year, Younger weighed into the ongoing Iran war, telling the Economist in an interview published in late March that Iran appeared to have the upper hand. “The reality is the US underestimated the task,” he said.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer led tributes, saying Younger “led an exemplary life and career” and “will be remembered by the many ministers, colleagues, friends and family for his utmost dedication to British public life and protecting our nation.”
Blaise Metreweli, the current chief of MI6, said Younger “embodied my service’s values of integrity, courage, creativity and respect” and “made a lasting and distinctive contribution to our country and indeed to global security.”
BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Nick Robinson, a friend, wrote on X that Younger had nicknamed his tumour “Putin” after the Russian president when it was discovered. “I was lucky enough to get to know Alex and call him my friend,” Robinson said. “I’m desperately sad to hear the news I’ve long feared was coming.”