The next challenges for Western intelligence. The warning from MI5
What General Ken McCallum, a 20-year career officer in the British Security Service (MI5) said. The article by Giuseppe Gagliano
Almost 20 years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it is time for Western intelligence agencies to refocus on covert operations by foreign state actors, according to the director of the British domestic intelligence agency. General Ken McCallum is a 20-year career officer in the Security Service (MI5), the British counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence agency. He took over as director in April 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a rare public address Wednesday , General McCallum said it was necessary for Western intelligence services to devote unprecedented attention and resources to countering terrorist threats in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Efforts during these two decades have focused on preventing attacks by religious extremists, both domestically and abroad. General McCallum went on to say that in light of the ongoing instability in Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere, religious extremism will continue to demand attention and resources from Western intelligence agencies.
But he added that while counterterrorism remains MI5's primary task, the agency recognizes the need to "refocus" on threats from state actors. The attention given over the past two decades to non-state groups has allowed countries such as Russia , China and Iran to develop "growing assertiveness" in the areas of covert operations, General McCallum said. As a result, their activities in the fields of espionage, sabotage and even murder have become "ever more daring" and threatening.
Spies working for foreign countries have killed targets, stolen sensitive technology, and tried to recruit public figures and other key individuals through blackmail. They also attacked telecommunications infrastructures and perfected a number of methods for launching cyber attacks on both the public and private sectors, with potentially catastrophic consequences, he said.
The MI5 chief illustrated his thesis by revealing that British counterintelligence officers have "disrupted the activity of hostile power" on British soil, which otherwise could have led to the killing of a targeted individual. He claimed that this operation took place after the attempted murder of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England in the spring of 2018, but did not provide further details.
It is significant that this statement by General McCallum came when prosecutors in the United States accused four Iranian intelligence officers of participating in a plot to kidnap Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and human rights activist. American based in New York, known for its critical stance towards the government in Tehran.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/le-prossime-sfide-per-le-intelligence-occidentali-il-monito-mi5/ on Sun, 15 Aug 2021 06:16:26 +0000.