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	13 January 1914 Marylebone, England
Died	30 September 1981 (aged 67) Lambeth, England
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Occupation	Intelligence officer
Spouse(s)	Jennifer Margaret Wainwright
Children	David Rennie
Awards	KCMG
Espionage activity
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service branch	Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6)
Service years	1968–1973
Rank	Chief 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