Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service will be led by a woman for the first time in the agency’s history after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Sunday that he had selected a career spy with extensive experience in technology and Middle East operations to lead the storied MI6.

Blaise Metreweli, who will assume the top position later this year, takes over at a time of deepening international crises — with Israel and Iran suddenly at war, the conflict in Ukraine grinding into its fourth year and Russia accused of sabotage attacks across Europe amid doubts about the transatlantic partnership with the United States.

The appointment of a woman marks a milestone for an intelligence service often depicted as a bastion of sexism in James Bond movies. But Metreweli, 47, had already ascended into the upper ranks of the agency in another role — “Q” — made famous by those Hollywood films.

As director general technology and innovation, a position referred to by the letter “Q,” Metreweli has in recent years been involved in developing high-tech spyware and devices that have aided Ukraine and other allies in clandestine operations, according to current and former U.K. and U.S. officials.

Starmer referred to Metreweli’s appointment as “historic” and said she will step into the role at a time when “the United Kingdom is facing threats on an unprecedented scale — be it aggressors who send their spy ships to our waters or hackers whose sophisticated cyber plots seek to disrupt our public services.”

Metreweli replaces Richard Moore, who has led MI6 for the past five years and had such a close partnership with his American counterpart, former CIA director William J. Burns, that subordinates jokingly described their relationship as a “bromance.”

The durability of the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom has come under question since President Donald Trump returned to office this year.

European officials have watched with alarm as the director of the cyberespionage agency, the NSA, was fired; senior analysts have been purged; and a Trump adviser proposed breaking up the historic “Five Eyes” intelligence partnership by ejecting Canada from a group that also includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

U.S. and U.K. officials have sought to downplay concerns that the relationship is fraying, saying that collaboration and intelligence sharing have been uninterrupted. To reinforce those ties, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and other leaders of Five Eyes agencies dined with King Charles III at Windsor Castle recently.

In a statement, Metreweli said she was “honored to be asked to lead my service” and looked forward “to continuing that work alongside the brave officers and agents of MI6 and our many international partners.”

Metreweli joined MI6 in 1999, according to U.K. officials, and spent most of her career in operational roles in the Middle East and Europe.