Ken McCallum, head of MI5, stated, "The first 20 years of my career here were crammed full of terrorist threats. We now face those alongside state-backed assassination and sabotage plots, against the backdrop of a major European land war." This highlights the evolving landscape of threats against the UK, particularly as they involve state actors and criminal activities beyond just traditional terrorism.
McCallum warned that the UK is facing the "most complex and interconnected" threat ever seen, a situation exacerbated by Russia's GRU agents causing mayhem, including arson and sabotage.
He noted that since the beginning of the Russian war in Ukraine, over 750 Russian diplomats have been expelled, indicating that many were spies. This points to a significant shift in Russia's intelligence gathering capabilities.
Highlighting a worrying trend, McCallum mentioned, "the number of young people under the age of 18 who are involved in terrorism has seen a threefold increase over the past three years," stressing the urgent need for targeted prevention measures.
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