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MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum (left) with FBI Director Christopher Wray in London on July 6, 2022. On Wednesday, McCallum issued a dispassionate national security threat assessment outlining long-standing, complex long-term threats from countries including Russia, China and Iran, as well as terrorist threats.photo provided MI5 Security Service.
November 16 (UPI) — MI5 chief Ken McCallum delivered his sober annual threat assessment in London on Wednesday, highlighting various national security threats from Russia Ukraine The growing invasion of China, the instability of Iran and transnational terrorism.
McCallum says in speech Britain’s intelligence agency, MI5, is making “the biggest shift in a generation” in tackling the complex threat posed by nation-states.
“The West is in a race and our security, our values and our democratic institutions are at stake,” McCallum said in his speech. “To be clear: at risk because of the actions of authoritarian regimes, and Not because of the people living under these regimes.”
McCallum said Russian President Vladimir Putin did not win in Ukraine or a strategic victory in his efforts to weaken the NATO alliance.
While many uncertainties remain, the concerted effort to expel Russian spies across Europe “has dealt the most significant strategic blow to Russian intelligence in modern European history,” he said.
He says more than 100 Russian diplomatic visas have been blocked since the start of the campaign to stop Russian spies from entering the UK 2018 Salisbury Novichok The poisoned assassination attempt on Russian double agent Sergei Skirpal and his daughter.
McCallum said the Chinese Communist Party posed “the most game-changing strategic challenge” to Britain.
The MI5 chief says China is struggling to gain influence over foreign governments.
“We’ve seen Chinese authorities play a long game of cultivating connections to manipulate public opinion in China’s favor – seeking to co-opt and influence not only prominent MPs from across the political spectrum, but also those earlier in their public life careers, gradually Build obligatory debt,” McCallum said.
In July, the FBI and UK Home Intelligence warning to business leaders About the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party. They called on business leaders to help “protect Western economies, institutions and democratic values”.
McCallum said Iran posed a direct threat to the UK.
“Most seriously, this includes kidnapping or even killing Britons or ambitions to kill Britons who are considered enemies of the regime. We’ve seen at least 10 such potential threats since January alone,” McCuller said. said Tom.
McCallum said that while the rising national threat was a huge challenge, terrorist plots were still the first thing the British public expected MI5 to deal with. He said the terrorist threat was compounded by the complex combination of extremist ideology and personal grievances and mental health.
He said Islamic terrorism remained the biggest problem facing the UK, accounting for around 75 per cent of MI5’s caseload.
According to McCallum, extreme right-wing terrorism accounts for the remaining 25 percent of MI5’s counter-terrorism work.
“The far right continues to evolve from structured real-world groups like state activism to a pervasive online threat. From the comfort of their bedroom, individuals can easily enter right-wing extremist spaces, engage with each other and move toward a radical mindset,” McCallum Say.
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