Media: Young Westerners no longer want to be spies

Published:

Dec 3, 2024 05:07 GMT

“If you look at what’s happening in Gaza and Lebanon, a lot of young people say, ‘Why would I want to contribute to that?'” explained a former British agent.

The UK and Australian intelligence services are experiencing a shortage of young staff as new generations have increasingly lost interest in working as a spy by 2024, reported on Saturday Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

“This is a trend that is appearing in the intelligence services from all over the western world“Harry Ferguson, former agent of the United Kingdom Secret Intelligence Service, told the channel. “Since 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan and at this very moment, if we look at what is happening in Gaza and Lebanon, many Young people say: ‘Why would I want to contribute to that, if they are not doing anything good‘” he explained.

Faced with this uncertainty, the British national intelligence service even launched a social media campaign to convince millennials to apply for the positions. In 2022, the UK also relaxed its recruitment rules to allow citizens with foreign parents to join the security services.

“Cultural change”

Meanwhile, Australia now lacks workers with the necessary skills in geopolitics because young people pay more attention to issues such as climate change, human rights or health.

“If you ask a lot of people in their twenties, they will tell you, rightly, that the biggest security problems facing the country have to do with climate change“William Leben, a strategy expert at the Australian National University, told ABC.

“Today’s young people still want to serve, but they see it differently: climate change, human rights and there are political issues that they want to dedicate their time to,” Ferguson confirmed. The impact of this hiring deficit and this “cultural change” could have important repercussions in the long term, the media reports.

However, ABC stressed that some experts still think it is imperative that agencies integrate the views of the next generation and increase diversity of thought.