Keeping a watchful eye on the enemies of our state

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Eric Garcia

Washington Bureau Chief

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Though vouchsafed by the director general of the Security Service (MI5), the fact that his organisation has “one hell of a job on its hands” is hardly a state secret. We have witnessed far too many terror attacks and too much extremist activity over the years to think anything else.

This summer’s far-right riots were a further stark reminder of the fragility of the civil peace we can never take for granted. Nonetheless, Ken McCallum’s annual assessment of the threats to the United Kingdom contained some highly concerning specifics. It comes as an unwelcome surprise, for example, that an increasing number of children are involved in UK terrorism, making up 13 per cent of all those investigated by MI5.

Well used to dealing with the various species of agents directly or tacitly controlled by the Kremlin, Mr McCallum’s teams now have to contend with a presumably well-funded operation emanating from Iran. He’s identified 20 such plots linked to Tehran and warns that Vladimir Putin and the ayatollahs, already firm allies in the merciless war in Ukraine, are recruiting criminal gangs to operate as proxies and do their dirty work for them.

The Russian secret police, the GRU, is apparently on a “sustained mission to generate mayhem” in the UK, with “sabotage, arson and more”. The present conflicts in the Middle East have obviously increased tensions and opened up new opportunities for trouble-making and sowing division in British society, online and on the streets.

Perhaps most disturbing of all is the suggestion that the threat from al-Qaeda, and particularly from Isis, is on the rise – terrorists with an unparalleled reputation for savagery. China, meanwhile, is pursuing less lethal but still unfriendly projects in commerce and academia.

Since 2017, the security agencies, with the police, have thwarted 43 “late-stage” terror attacks, at the point at which only weapons and explosives were needed to commit mass murder and inflict deep wounds on the cohesion of the nation. Tragically exacerbated by Brexit, the safety of Northern Ireland has deteriorated in recent times.

What might be called a thinly coded message from Mr McCallum is that the war between Israel and its enemies, which has led to such terrible loss of life and destruction, is right now being exploited by Iran and al-Qaeda to radicalise Muslim communities in the UK and push some towards terrorism; with the full knowledge that this may well provoke far-right elements to become more violent.

That is a reason for the authorities to maintain vigilance and calm, and for them to develop close relationships with the leaders of those peaceful and blameless communities. Extremists, including online agitators, have to be identified and dealt with before they get near anything like a violent attack.

The aim of the Iranian proxies and others is not to protect people under fire or at threat of starvation in the Middle East, but rather to promote dissent and weaken the willpower, resolve and unity of the Western powers, with the ultimate aim of communal violence and civil war. In that context, far too many prominent public figures talk up the prospect of violence and blame minority groups for the troubles.

So, yes, that is one hell of a line-up – but the UK and the West more generally is not defenceless, even in a world of asymmetric warfare. The Five Eyes security partnership with the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand remains a formidable example of secure intelligence sharing, bolstered by close relationships between MI5, MI6 and the defence ministry with their European counterparts.

The war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East have focused attention on known threats from malign state and non-state actors, and usefully added to the sense of jeopardy; the danger is real. From what can be gathered from the outside, the British security services are highly professional, methodical and skilled in their work, and have identified the threats and framed their priorities accordingly.

In terms of sheer value for money, the relatively small sums of public funds expended on their activities are repaid many times over in lives saved and communities protected from the ravages of terror and hate. Even a casual inspection of social media, and most obviously the racist hellhole that is the current state of X (formerly Twitter), will confirm that there is no shortage of bots, foreign agencies and bad actors constantly stirring up division, and plenty of useful idiots willing to tolerate such manipulation in the same of free speech absolutism.

Free elections in the Western democracies continue to be at risk from interference. Protest movements, political factions and so-called “patriotic” fronts for various racist, neo-fascist, Islamophobic and antisemitic movements continue to be boosted by the telltale anonymised accounts with a simple agenda – to foment trouble and to drive division.

Thanks to the efforts of Mr McCallum and his teams, and their colleagues internationally, at least we know what is going on and who is behind the malignancy – and we should be confident that they will not prevail.

The security service men and women who guard the realm are fundamental to our safety. We should not take their vigilance for granted or the wise and thoughtful leadership of our present head of MI5. His voice is a welcome demonstration of a chief who knows how to communicate and lead.