 "Looking for next James Bond: The puzzle UK spy agency is using to recruit new people")
Puzzle-loving brainies might be able to compete with the world’s top code-cracking spies.
A new puzzle has been uploaded to the British intelligence organisation GCHQ’s LinkedIn channel to identify and recruit the upcoming generation of intelligence staff.
The brain teaser was created in collaboration with artist Justin Eagleton, according to the Cheltenham-based intelligence organisation, to identify lateral thinkers.
Here’s all we know about the puzzle.
The puzzle
Try your luck by finding the letters in the picture and piecing them together to uncover a secret message.
“Puzzles are at the heart of our vital work,” reads the statement. “These skills represent our historic roots in cryptography and encryption and continue to be important to our modern-day mission to keep the country safe.”
“Within the image are 13 elements that represent letters of the alphabet. Your task is to identify those letters and assemble them to reveal a hidden message.”
A sign directing to Cheltenham, Manchester, Scarborough, and Bude—some of GCHQ’s designated offices—can be seen in the image. They have secret stations across the world.
The classic Roman alphabet is combined with features of British Sign Language and braille in this puzzle. One suggestion would be to consider the NATO phonetic alphabet.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“A nod to the intelligence agency’s historic links with code-breaking,” the intelligence agency stated in its riddle.
It added the puzzle has been designed to appeal to people who “process information differently and possess strong lateral-thinking skills.”
The answers will be released on the agency’s LinkedIn profile after Thursday.
‘Recruiting lateral thinkers’
GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler explained that she was seeking lateral thinkers who had “never thought of working” with the UK Signals Intelligence Service, which provides signals intelligence and information assurance to the government and armed forces, according to UK-based The Sun.
According to her, the puzzle was posted to assist the organisation in assembling the “right mix of minds to tackle challenges ahead.”
The spy chief said that the puzzle is part of a wider recruitment drive to bring “in people with different backgrounds, different experience, different insights, different knowledge, and creating a team where all of us can play our part,” as per iNews.
Notably, the prominent intelligence agency is still a diverse group with just 3.1 per cent of its staff who were from black or minority Ethnic backgrounds, much lower than the UK average, according to the UK-based news outlet which cited a 2018 special report from the Intelligence and Security Committee.
It also cited an approved history of GCHQ is provided in a 2020 book titled Behind the Enigma, which also describes how the agency prohibited the hiring of non-white applicants until about 1980.
About the organisation
Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ as most people call it, is one of the three intelligence and security agencies in the UK, along with MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).
GCHQ, which has its headquarters in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, is in charge of both the country’s offensive and defensive cybersecurity efforts.
The iNews report claims it is a financially sound organisation, having a £3.7 billion budget for 2021–2022. Currently, 7,181 people work there.
According to CNN, the agency played an important role in the Second World War, with its staff member Alan Turing famously decrypting coded German messages sent using the Enigma cipher machine.
Furthermore, this organisation has not always been without controversy. Aiming to create “a user profile for every visible website on the internet,” GCHQ had been conducting an operation known as Karma Police since early 2008, according to papers obtained by US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2008.
Crucial time for the UK
The hiring comes after MI5 chief Ken McCallum said that Chinese spies had tapped almost 20,000 Britons on LinkedIn.
He said, “Week by week, our teams detect massive amounts of covert activity by the likes of China in particular, but also Russia and Iran.”
According to him, agents from China, Russia, and Iran pretended to be hiring consultants.
“We think we’re above 20,000 cases where that initial approach has been made online through sites of that sort.”
With inputs from agencies
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
