MI5 chief in first joint public appearance with heads of Five Eyes spy agencies

The head of MI5 will make his first joint public appearance with counterparts from the Five Eyes intelligence services amid warnings about the threats to UK businesses from foreign states.

Ken McCallum will appear alongside fellow spy chiefs from the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand at an event hosted by the FBI later on Tuesday.

He said: “The UK is seeing a sharp rise in aggressive attempts by other states to steal competitive advantage.

“It’s the same across all five of our countries.

“The stakes are now incredibly high on emerging technologies; states which lead the way in areas like artificial intelligence, quantum computing and synthetic biology will have the power to shape all our futures.

“We all need to be aware, and respond, before it’s too late.”

All five figures are set to take part in a fireside chat with former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to discuss threats to businesses across their home nations.

They met at the start of the first Emerging Technology and Securing Innovation Security Summit in Silicon Valley, which will also be attended by business chiefs and academics.

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess called the summit “an unprecedented response to an unprecedented threat”.