There's some funny square bracketing in here.

> “We don’t do things like that here at all. So, Vauxhall [MI6] will almost never outsource meaningful intelligence work to the private sector,” they said.

That one explains that "Vauxhall" is a metonym for MI6, whose headquarters is in Vauxhall.

> Still, trading in knowledge is commonplace. The same person added that there is a “lot of frustration from both sides of the river [Thames] that the old boys’ network was getting a bit too informal, with people telling their clients that they can call their old buddies.”

That one completely fails to explain that "both sides of the river" means MI6 and MI5 (whose headquarters are on different sides of the Thames).

I believe you intended to comment on this thread - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44687145 - not here.

(If dang sees this he might be able to move yours over and delete mine?)