(London) The head of the MI5 domestic intelligence service Ken McCallum warned on Tuesday against the “chaos” that he believes Russia intends to sow in the United Kingdom and Europe and highlighted the intensification of the threat from Iran.
In addition to the terrorist threat, “we are now confronted with state-backed plots to commit assassinations or acts of sabotage, against a backdrop of war on European soil,” declared Ken McCallum, in a speech to the Counter-Terrorism Operations Centre, located in east London.
Last year, the number of investigations into acts carried out by hostile states, sometimes through criminal groups or private intelligence agencies, increased by 48%.
The head of MI5 accused Moscow of wanting to cause “chaos” in the UK and the rest of Europe via its military intelligence agency GRU, due to Western support for Ukraine over the invasion Russian.
He also claimed that Iranian-backed “plots” had escalated “at an unprecedented rate and scale” on British soil since 2022, posing “potentially lethal threats” to its citizens and residents.
MI5 is also “very aware of the risk that events in the Middle East could directly provoke terrorist action in the United Kingdom”, at a time when the military escalation between Israel on the one hand, Iran and Hezbollah on the the other, makes you fear an uncontrollable situation.
The terrorist threat in the UK is currently considered “substantial”, the third highest level on a scale of five.
Since March 2017, police and MI5 have foiled more than 40 attacks at an advanced stage of preparation, saving “many lives”, Ken McCallum said.
The most worrying threat, he said, comes from Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which has “resumed its efforts to export terrorism.”
The official also noted that more and more minors were being investigated for terrorism by his services, particularly in connection with far-right movements.
Intelligence services have found “too many cases where very young people are confronted with toxic extremism online”.
“Sadly, 13% of people investigated by MI5 for their involvement in terrorism in the UK are under the age of 18,” said Ken McCallum.
This is “a threefold increase over the last three years,” he added, explaining that the internet was the “main factor” in this increase.
“Far-right terrorism in particular heavily targets young people with propaganda that shows a keen understanding of internet culture,” he insisted.