# MI5 and MI6

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mi5-and-mi6/196366>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 20, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mi5-and-mi6/196366 "2003-08-20T04:24:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![voxnihili](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@voxnihili](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voxnihili)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mi5-and-mi6/196366/1 "2003-08-20T04:24:07Z")

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Ok, so British Intelligence at home is called MI5 and abroad is MI6; what does the MI stand for? Why 5 and 6? Are there MI’s 1 through 4, or an MI7?

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**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mi5-and-mi6/196366/2 "2003-08-20T04:51:29Z")

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I just looked it up in my little dic. MI=Military Intelligence, sections 5 and 6. 5 is counterintelligence, 6 is espionage and intelligence.

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**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mi5-and-mi6/196366/3 "2003-08-20T06:26:08Z")

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The various other former divisions of “MI” were recently discussed in the thread [What did MI-1 through MI-4 do?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=202059)