MI5 Director General gives latest threat update

He explained that the threat from terrorism, alongside efforts by autocratic states to harm the UK's security, presented the most complex threat environment the UK has ever seen. 

Counter Terrorism: 

Since 2017, MI5 and the police have together disrupted 43 late-stage attack plots. The headline split of MI5's counter terrorist work remains roughly 75% Islamist extremist, 25% extreme right-wing terrorism, however these straightforward labels do not fully reflect the dizzying range of beliefs and ideologies that present a threat to the UK. As it stands, 13% of all those being investigated by MI5 for involvement in UK terrorism are under 18, which is a threefold increase in the last three years. Extreme right-wing terrorism in particular skews heavilty towards young people driven by propaganda that shows a canny understanding of online culture. 

Ken McCallum stated that it's hard to overstate the centrality of the online world in enabling today's threats. In both Islamist extremist and extreme right-wing terrorism, lone individuals, indoctrinated online, continue to make up most of the threats. MI5's operational focus sits within a much wider online context: the insidious effect of internet hatred and disinformation has played into threats to election candidates, intimidation of communities and the public disorder that followed the sickening attack in Southport. 

The terrorist threat that is of most concern to national security organisations in the UK is that of Al-Qaeda and in particular from Islamic State. To illustrate the scale of this threat, the Director General claimed that over the last month more than a third of the MI5's top priority investigations have had some form of connection, of varying strenghts to organised overseas terrorist groups. 

State Threats: 

In the last year the number of state threat investigations that MI5 run have shot up by 48%. This includes threats posed by autocratic regimes which target sensitive government information, technology, democracy journalists and defenders of human rights in the UK. An eye-catching shift this year has been from Russian state actors turning to proxies for their dirty work, including private intelligence operative and criminals from both the UK and third countries. The internet provides the crucial platform connecting these malign actors. While altering MI5's detection challenge, Russia's use of proxies further reduces the professionalism of their operations and - absent diplomatic immunity - increases the UK's disruptive options. 

Since 2022, with police partners, MI5 have responded to twenty Iran-backed plots presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents. Like Russian services, Iranian state actors make extensive use of criminals as proxies - from international drug traffickers to low-level crooks. 

China, on the other hand, is different. The UK-China economic relationship supports UK growth, which underpins our security, however there are also risks to be managed. The choices are complex and fall to Ministers to make the big strategic judgements on the UK's relationship with China. Proportionate and targeted security protections are part of the foundation for a confident relationship with China that both enables economic growth and maintains the UK's values. 

The strategic approach is to build the UK's resilience - helping businesses, universities and others intelligently navigate the more contested world that now exists and engaging with China on real opportunities where the risks can be sufficiently managed. Ken McCallum pointed towards the NCSC and NPSA joint guidance for those working at the cutting edge of technology, in business or academia. 

Just at MI5 seek to protect the UK's technological edge, they deploy that edge in support of their mission. They use AI, lawfully and ethically, to detect threat amongst an avalanche of information. Cloud technology gives MI5 faster access to vital insights. Advanced privacy enhancing techniques allow them to join up with the private sector without either party sharing more than they need to. Ken McCallum stated that in 2024, scientists and technologists are key to the UK's national security and to driving growth. 

You can read the whole speech here.