MI5 Career
Hollis joined MI5 shortly before World War II, and became an acknowledged expert on communism within the service, even during World War II with the concentration of resources on the Nazi enemy. When the war ended and the Cold War began, Hollis stayed on with MI5, and with many key personnel returning to civilian life, he was in a favourable position to become one of the key individuals in the service. In 1953 he was appointed deputy director-general, and replaced Sir Dick White in 1956 as head of MI5, after the latter's departure to head MI6.
Hollis held the DG role over the next nine years, during which time a string of high-profile spy cases went through the Old Bailey, including those of Anthony Wright, John Vassall, George Blake, Harry Houghton, Ethel Gee, Gordon Lonsdale, and the Krogers (the latter all part of the Portland Spy Ring).
Read more about this topic: Roger Hollis
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“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)