MI5 chief in the UK warns of a new strategic shock
Ken McCallum, director general of the UK Security Service MI5, said intelligence agencies must be prepared for a new strategic shock that may be taking shape outside their field of view. He wrote this in a column for the Independent newspaper, published ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Asharq Al-Awsat reports.
Lesson of the September 11 attacks
According to McCallum, the next strategic shock will by definition not resemble the previous one. He stressed that security services must study the experience of past attacks, but should not focus solely on fighting yesterday's enemy with old methods and against old targets.
The MI5 chief noted that Al-Qaeda, although weakened, still poses a threat. According to him, the group and other militants continue to seek to carry out attacks with a large number of casualties.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Sabotage and cyberattacks
McCallum also mentioned a recently thwarted extremist plot to kill hundreds of people during armed attacks on the Jewish community in Manchester, northern England.
In addition, the MI5 chief reported an increase in aggressive state-backed activity, from sabotage carried out by criminal intermediaries to cyberattacks on power plants. He noted that a significant portion of systems and services is now in private-sector hands, so cooperation among governments, business and the academic community is needed to eliminate vulnerabilities and respond quickly to a crisis.
In McCallum's view, those responsible for protecting vulnerable systems, the powers for responding, and communication mechanisms must be determined before a crisis occurs.
