ISIS and al Qaeda present a \u201cresurgent\u201d threat to the United Kingdom, the head of the country\u2019s domestic security service warned in a rare public intervention on Tuesday, as he outlined a changing landscape of terrorism that is increasingly relying on children and the internet. <\/p>\n
More than a third of MI5\u2019s recent, priority investigations have involved links to overseas terrorist groups, the agency\u2019s Director General Ken McCallum said in a speech in London, with ISIS in particular resuming \u201cefforts to export terrorism.\u201d <\/p>\n
And more than one in eight people being investigated by the service for involvement in terrorism are minors, McCallum said, a three-fold increase since 2021. <\/p>\n
McCallum\u2019s speech comes amid a string of Western warnings about the increasing risk of state-sponsored sabotage by nations including Russia and Iran, and as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East rock global security. <\/p>\n
Overall, his agency has prevented 43 late-stage terror attack plots since March 2017 \u2013 with organizers often \u201cin the final days of planning mass murder\u201d \u2013 McCallum told reporters. About three-quarters of the agency\u2019s work tackles Islamist extremism, while a quarter relates to far-right groups, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are powerfully alive to the risk that events in the Middle East directly trigger terrorist action in the UK,\u201d he said. But while a rise in public disorder and hate crime has occurred, it hasn\u2019t yet translated into terrorist activity, he said. <\/p>\n
ISIS, however, is once again firmly in the crosshairs of the agency. \u201cAfter a few years of being pinned well back, they\u2019ve resumed efforts to export terrorism,\u201d he said. And al Qaeda \u201chas sought to capitalise on conflict in the Middle East, calling for violent action.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a few years of being pinned well back, they\u2019ve resumed efforts to export terrorism,\u201d he said. And al Qaeda \u201chas sought to capitalize on conflict in the Middle East, calling for violent action.\u201d <\/p>\n
McCallum said on Tuesday that Russia\u2019s GRU intelligence agency was pressing ahead with a \u201csustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets,\u201d conducting operations that included \u201carson, sabotage and more.\u201d <\/p>\n
And he revealed that MI5 and British police had responded to 20 Iran-backed terror plots in Britain since the start of 2022. <\/p>\n
\u201cMI5 has one hell of a job on its hands,\u201d McCallum said. \u201cThe first 20 years of my career here were crammed full of terrorist threats. We now face those alongside state-backed assassination and sabotage plots, against the backdrop of a major European land war.\u201d <\/p>\n
Speeches by the domestic intelligence chief are uncommon, and tend to be used as an opportunity to update Britain\u2019s public on the nature of the terror threat faced by the country. <\/p>\n
The UK has joined allies including the US in loudly publicizing allegations of Russian sabotage since Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. Despite the expulsion of more than 750 Russian diplomats from Europe \u2013 \u201cmany of them spies\u201d \u2013 McCallum said \u201cwe should expect to see continued acts of aggression here at home.\u201d <\/p>\n
The GRU has long been accused by the West of orchestrating brazen and high-profile attacks, including cyberattacks, interference in US presidential elections and the 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury, England. <\/p>\n
In February, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the American agency had disrupted a network of over 1,000 hacked internet routers that the GRU was using for cyber-espionage operations against the United States and its European allies. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you take money from Iran, Russia or any other state to carry out illegal acts in the UK, you will bring the full weight of the national security apparatus down on you,\u201d McCallum said on Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s a choice you\u2019ll regret.\u201d <\/p>\n
He meanwhile highlighted a series of new trends his agency was responding to. Among the most striking was the rise in minors being investigated for terrorism offenses; far-right terrorism in particular ropes in young people, he said, \u201cdriven by propaganda that shows a canny understanding of online culture.\u201d <\/p>\n
He listed three recent convictions of British teenagers to underline the diversity of threats faced. \u201cOne planned to attack a British synagogue. Another posted material that inspired deadly mass shootings in the US. A third drew up plans to stab people at a music festival and shared terrorist propaganda online,\u201d McCallum said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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