Richard Parks MI5 has been forced to scale back its counter-terrorism efforts to address the growing threat from hostile nation-states, according to its director general, Ken McCallum.
In a recent interview, McCallum revealed that the security agency is having to make difficult decisions about how to allocate its resources. He noted that the rise in aggression from countries like Russia, China, and Iran has made it necessary to divert attention from counter-terrorism to focus on state-sponsored threats.
Increasing Threats and Limited Resources
McCallum explained that MI5’s resources are finite, leading to difficult prioritization choices. The agency has had to reduce its focus on terrorism to strengthen its response to sophisticated state-driven threats. “We need to plan for the immediate threats and for what might come in the next five years,” McCallum said.
In addition to the rising state threats, the number of MI5 investigations into state-related activities has increased by 48% in the last year. McCallum also warned about the growing number of minors involved in terrorism-related investigations, attributing some of this to online extremist content targeting young people.