Next 9/11 shock might be being planned where we're not looking, UK's MI5 chief says
Ken McCallum said al Qaeda and other militants still seek mass-casualty attacks, while state-backed sabotage and cyberattacks are also rising.
- Director General Ken McCallum warned Friday that Britain faces a greater risk of strategic shock than on 9/11, writing in the Independent on the 25th anniversary that security agencies must adapt to new, unforeseen threats.
- Islamist militants remain a threat with aspirations for mass casualty attacks, McCallum noted, citing a recently foiled plot to kill hundreds in gun attacks on the Jewish community in Manchester.
- MI5 faces rising state-backed aggression, ranging from sabotage by criminal proxies to cyberattacks on power stations. The agency must confront these diverse dangers simultaneously, McCallum added.
- Modern infrastructure now relies on the private sector, requiring government, business, and academia to collaborate. This shift complicates efforts to close vulnerabilities and respond swiftly during crises, McCallum noted.
- McCallum urged resilience and courage to adapt before the next shock arrives, writing, "We owe the victims of 9/11 and those who will otherwise become the victims of tomorrow's attack something more than remembrance.
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Next 9/11 shock might be being planned where we're not looking, UK's MI5 chief says
Intelligence services must not dwell too much on past threats but accept that a new strategic shock along the lines of the 9/11 attacks could already be in preparation where they are not looking, the head of Britain's MI5 spy agency said.
The Independent
The Independent (US)MI5 chief: Britain faces greater danger now than on 9/11
In an exclusive op-ed for The Independent on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 , Sir Ken McCallum warns Britain faces the ‘worst of both worlds’ – as Russia and China pose growing threats alongside terrorism
The next shock of the 11 September attacks could already be in preparation where we don't expect it, says MI5 chief
MI5 chief warns Britain faces greater danger now than on 9/11
On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchThe head of MI5 has issued a dramatic nationwide “call to arms”, warning that Britain faces greater and more complex terror threats than it did in 2001.Writing exclusively for The Independent on
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