John Rennie (MI6 officer)

Sir John Ogilvy Rennie, KCMG (13 January 1914 – 30 September 1981) was the 6th Director of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1968 to 1973. He was once the head of the Information Research Department (IRD), a secret branch of the UK Foreign Office dedicated to pro-colonial and anti-communist propaganda during the Cold War.

Sir

John Rennie

KCMG
Born(1914-01-13)13 January 1914
Marylebone, England
Died30 September 1981(1981-09-30) (aged 67)
Lambeth, England
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford
OccupationIntelligence officer
Spouse(s)Jennifer Margaret Wainwright
ChildrenDavid Rennie
AwardsKCMG
Espionage activity
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service branchSecret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6)
Service years1968–1973
RankChief of the Secret Intelligence Service

Career

Educated at Wellington College and Balliol College, Oxford, Rennie joined an advertising agency in New York City in 1935.[1] During World War II he worked at an organisation in Baltimore combating German propaganda.[1]

In 1946 he joined the Foreign Office and was posted to Washington D.C. and then to Warsaw.[1] In 1953 he was appointed Head of the Information Research Department, a controversial body established to disseminate information about the dangers of Soviet-style communism.[1] During the Suez Crisis he chaired a committee established to disseminate British propaganda in the Middle East.[1] He was posted to Buenos Aires in 1958 and Washington D.C. in 1960.[1] He served on the Civil Service Commission in 1966.[1] Then in 1968 he was appointed Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service.[1]

On 15 January 1973, Rennie's son Charles Tatham Ogilvy Rennie, and his daughter-in-law were arrested for an alleged involvement in the importation of large quantities of heroin from Hong Kong.[1] Rennie resigned not long afterwards.[1]

Another son is The Economist columnist David Rennie.

He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1967.[1]

References
  1. John Rennie at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Government offices
Preceded by
Sir Dick White		 Chief of the SIS
1968–1973		 Succeeded by
Sir Maurice Oldfield
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