Control is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Control is an intelligence officer who acts as the head of "The Circus" (Cambridge Circus, London), the British overseas intelligence agency. He is a character in the novels The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Looking Glass War and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and is referred to in several others, usually by association with le Carré's recurring protagonist George Smiley, who has served as Control's right-hand man.