MI5 needs to “reduce” its focus on counter-terrorism because of the growing threat from Russia and other hostile states, the head of the security agency has said.
Ken McCallum, director of MI5, said the agency had to make “unpleasant choices” given its “finite” resources.
“We are now facing much more invasion from nation-states,” he said in a recorded interview obtained by The Times. “Effectively, we were on a 20- to 30-year vacation from these kinds of big corporations and sophisticated nations that were in deep conflict with each other. Unfortunately, we're here again.
“And this has very deep implications…In recent years, we've had to make some of those uncomfortable choices…to reduce the amount of capacity we're putting into counterterrorism to be ready. How can we cut back a little bit?'' In a way, to deal with these slightly grander, more sophisticated threats from nation-states. ”
The paper said he made the comments in an interview with the outgoing cabinet secretary, Simon Case, on Case's Civil Service podcast.
Mr McCallum said: “How much of our finite capacity can we spend on national activities from Russia, Iran, China, how much should we spend on various forms of terrorism; We spend money on things that we think might be a threat tomorrow morning, but we also look at how we can spend money on things that we think might be a threat tomorrow morning, but how do we spend money on things that we think might be a threat tomorrow morning? How much money do you have to save to plan how you can do it?
“We need to invest in new technology and new skills. So there always needs to be some version of these uncomfortable choices.”
MI5 bosses recently said Russia intended to cause “disturbance” on British streets and that Iran-backed plots posing a “lethal threat” to British citizens were growing at an “unprecedented pace and scale” I warned you that you were doing it.
In a speech in October, the Secretary of State for Security said the UK should “expect continued acts of aggression at home” by Russia and that the military intelligence agency, the GRU, had a “continued mission”. He said that there is, and added: There were incidents of arson and sabotage. ”
He said at the time that the number of state threat investigations carried out by MI5 had “soared by 48%” in the last year, with 13% of people being investigated by the security services for involvement in UK terrorism being under 18. .
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He said there had been an “alarming” increase in the number of children being investigated on terrorism charges in the UK and warned that “sophisticated online memes” were drawing children into far-right ideology.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “This innovative conversation series was brought to you on our Civil Service learning site to provide insight into the experiences of senior leaders across the Civil Service, and to enable other civil servants to learn and grow in their careers.
“MI5 Director Ken McCullum’s comments echo what he has previously made publicly. In his October threat update, he spoke about the challenge of prioritization.”
