Changes

The increasing complexities of the 19th century and British entanglement in international affairs as the British Empire expanded demonstrated a new structure was needed to manage the government's espionage services. In 1909, the Security Service (MI5) and Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) were created with the realization two agencies were needed to manage domestic (MI5) and foreign intelligence (MI6) gathering. At this point, the emerging power of Germany became the biggest foreign threat, while civil unrest over inequality and poor conditions meant that MI5 was also very active in thwarting rebellionand rise of new ideas such as Communism. However, it was the events of World War I were where both these services saw great expansionand began to mature to the systems we know them today. Even before the war, there was much tension over the increasing naval arms race between Britain and Germany that led to many accusations of espionage by against Germany, with at least one case where a true plot was, indeed, uncovered. During World War I, approximately 120 spies served Germany and were sent or assitgned assigned to Britain, of which 65 were caught and the remainder failed to send significant intelligence. This demonstrated that the new structure of dividing the external and internal spy agencies was a relatively workable modelthat made it easier for one head to focus on. By the end of World War I, the new threat and more significant threat was seen to be Communism and the rise of the Soviet Union.<ref>For more on the development of MI5 and MI6, see: Thomas, G. (2009) <i>Secret wars: one hundred years of British intelligence inside MI5 and MI6</i>. 1st ed. New York, Thomas Dunne Books.</ref>