MI5 chief says service is tackling more state threats than during the Cold War

Mixed · 2MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum said in his annual threat speech at Thames House in London on 13 October 2026 that the service is devoting more resource to countering state threats than during the Cold War. 1 2 Mixed · 2He said the state threats caseload had quadrupled over the past decade, so that MI5's terrorism and state threats operational missions are now "pretty much of equal scale", and declared: "We have again entered a new era of national security." 1 3 Mixed · 2He called Russia "aggressor number one", saying it was waging hybrid warfare just short of conventional conflict, citing a cyber-attack on Polish energy infrastructure and an attempted drone attack on a cargo plane in Germany. He said its military progress in Ukraine was "minimal and horrifically costly", and that almost 1,000 expulsions since the invasion had left its covert footprint "eviscerated", so it pays criminals to act for it. 4 1

Mixed · 2On Iran, McCallum said MI5 investigations had led to more than 50 arrests in the UK over the past year, much of the aggression targeting British Jewish communities, and that Tehran now had "ambitions to come at harder targets, like military sites". 3 1 Mixed · 2He said the suspected plot at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, which Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday was highly likely or "almost certainly" directed by Iran, was "not unique", though he would not discuss it because of an ongoing investigation. Iran, he said, mainly hires criminals as proxies. 4 2 Centre · 1The Evening Standard reported that three vans were stopped near the base and seven people were arrested and bailed by counter-terrorism police. 5

Mixed · 2McCallum said MI5 had "caught terrorists seeking to exploit AI" to improve reconnaissance and attack methods, including with AI-enabled drones. The misuse he weighed most heavily, which he said was "not yet realised", was AI changing the stakes on existing or new bioweapons. He said he was not seeking to hype this risk, but that it deserved sober attention. 1 6 Mixed · 2He announced an AI Threat Assessment Centre (AITAC) within MI5 to assess the risks and opportunities of the technology, and said the intelligence community works with the AI Security Institute. 2 1 Mixed · 3On domestic terrorism, he said the "most marked trend" over the past year was extremist versions of anti-immigration and anti-Muslim grievance tipping into terrorist intent, including plots against mosques and immigration-related venues. He said the trend skews young and that MI5 had investigated a radicalised 13-year-old, a case that helped an international partner prevent a lethal attack. The UK terrorism threat level was raised to severe in April. 3 1 6

Mixed · 2He also described Islamist threats, with Al Qaeda and Islamic State still directing and inspiring attacks, and China's espionage and coercion. He said the National Security Act is in heavy use, with dozens of arrests linked to Russia, Iran and China. 7 2 Mixed · 2Asked about Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum, he said he agreed with the Prime Minister that Russian media and trolls had tried to influence the vote, but warned against making the trolls "look 10 feet tall". The Guardian quoted him saying there was a big difference between what may have been attempted and what resulted. 6 3 Left · 1He urged a whole-of-society effort on resilience, warning that attacks on banking, airports or hospitals could disrupt daily life, and said MI5 plans on the basis that the risks will endure rather than being a temporary blip. 2