Stella Rimington joined Britain's security service (MI5) in 1965 where she worked in all the main areas of the organization: counter-subversion, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism. She was appointed Director-General of MI5 in 1992. Her autobiography Open Secret was published by Hutchinson in 2001. Her first novel, At Risk, featuring agent Liz Carlyle, was also published by Hutchinson in August 2004.