MI5’s fight against terrorism remains intense: it’s running near-record volumes of investigations. The UK’s security services are also having to contend with a second menace of equal or even greater scale, in fast-rising state threats. That’s according to the Director General of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum in his annual threat update, given at MI5’s offices in London.
A more hostile world is forcing the biggest shifts in MI5’s mission since 9/11, he says. While terrorism remains an ever-present threat – since the start of 2020, MI5 and the police have disrupted 19 late-stage attack plots – state threats are escalating.
He says: “In the last year we’ve seen a 35 per cent increase in the number of individuals we’re investigating for involvement in state threat activity. That means espionage, including against our Parliament, our universities, our critical infrastructure. But now, states are also consistently descending into ugly methods MI5 is more used to seeing in our terrorism casework. My teams are routinely uncovering attempts by state actors to commission surveillance, sabotage, arson or physical violence, right here in the UK.”
Russia-based figures continuing to use online platforms in wider attempts – largely unsuccessful – to sow the seeds of violence, chaos and division in the UK, he says; and other nationals are recruited to do such work in the physical world, as ‘proxies’, recruited on social media platforms, instructed via encrypted apps, and offered payment in cryptocurrencies. As for China, Sir Ken speaks of cyber espionage; and ‘a steady stream of attempts to lure UK academic experts’, in the name of clandestine technology transfer.
‘Hard target’
Calling for the UK to make itself a ‘hard target’, he directed people to the NPSA and NCSC websites. As for artificial intelligence, he says: “My teams already use AI, ethically and responsibly, across our investigations – conducting automated trawls of images we’ve collected to instantly spot the one with a gun in it; searching across large volumes of messages between suspects to clock a buried phrase that reveals an assassination plot. AI tools are making us more effective and more efficient in our core work.” He adds that MI5 is ‘on the case’ regarding the potential for AI to cause humans harm.
Summing up
Sir Ken hails MI5 as part of ‘one of the most capable and connected national security systems’ and says ‘MI5 is contending with more volume and more variety of threat, from terrorists and state actors, than I’ve ever seen’. For the full speech visit the MI5 website.
Background
The UK official NPSA (National Protective Security Authority) has released guidance to parliamentarians, about espionage and foreign interference ‘from elements of the Russian, Chinese and Iranian states’. Earlier this seek, in its annual review, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of the UK Government eavesdropping agency GCHQ, pointed to high-profile attacks on Marks & Spencer, the Co-op Group and Jaguar Land Rover.
More in the November edition of Professional Security Magazine.
