MI5 Chief: Next 9/11-Scale Shock May Be Taking Shape

Ken McCallum, head of Britain’s MI5 security service, has warned that intelligence agencies must not focus too heavily on threats from the past. Another strategic shock comparable to the 9/11 attacks may already be taking shape in an area that security services are not watching closely enough, he said.

McCallum made the remarks in a commentary for The Independent marking the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States.

“We know that the next strategic shock will, by definition, not resemble the last one. That is perhaps the most important lesson of all”, he wrote. Intelligence agencies, he argued, must learn from previous attacks without preparing solely to fight “yesterday’s enemy”.

Al-Qaeda, although weakened, remains a threat, McCallum said, while extremist groups continue to aspire to mass-casualty attacks. He pointed to a recently foiled Islamist plot to kill hundreds of people in gun attacks on Manchester’s Jewish community.

MI5 is also increasingly confronting state-backed aggression, ranging from sabotage carried out by criminal proxies to cyberattacks on power stations.

McCallum therefore called for closer cooperation between governments, businesses and academia to protect critical infrastructure and respond quickly in a crisis.

(Reuters, est)