MI5 faces ‘new era’ tackling terrorism and rise in state threats

Russia, Iran and China have fuelled a dramatic rise in the threats posed to the UK from foreign states, the head of MI5 has warned.

Sir Ken McCallum said the number of individuals being investigated for involvement in “state threat activity” had increased by 35% in the last year.

He said the Security Service was “routinely” uncovering plots from foreign states to carry out surveillance, sabotage, arson or acts of physical violence in the UK.

The service was also grappling with the “ever-present threat” of terrorism, with a concerning number of children being drawn into investigations.

In a speech at MI5’s London headquarters he said one-in-five of the 232 terrorism arrests last year were under-17.

Since the start of 2020, MI5 and the police had disrupted 19 “late-stage attack plots” and had intervened in “many hundreds of developing threats”.

He said the service was in a “new era” as a result of the combination of terrorism and “fast-rising state threats”.

“In 2025, a more hostile world is forcing the biggest shift in MI5’s mission since 9/11,” Sir Ken said.

He warned of state-backed espionage “including against our Parliament, our universities, our critical infrastructure”.

But foreign powers were also using “ugly methods” such as arson and violence.

Russia is “committed to causing havoc and destruction” around the world, he said.

But he suggested the expulsion of Russian spies from embassies across Europe had left Vladimir Putin’s intelligence services relying on “disposable” proxies, often recruited online.

“In the last year we and the police have disrupted a steady stream of surveillance plots with hostile intent, aimed at individuals Russian leaders perceive as their enemies”, he said.

“And we’re seeing Russia-based figures using online platforms in wider attempts, largely unsuccessful, to sow the seeds of violence, chaos and division here in the UK.”

Iran was “frantically trying to silence its opponents around the world”, he said, with MI5 tracking “more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots” in the last year.

On China, he said the relationship is “by its nature complex” but MI5 would “detect and deal, robustly, with activity threatening UK national security”.