The chief of MI5 has made a direct address to the public, warning that because attempts to undermine “the cohesion of our society” impact everyone, everyone has “some adapting to do”.
A now years-long, low-key government information campaign impressing on the public that security and defence are no longer a matter for remote professionals but something intruding into their daily lives continues apace, with the Director General of domestic spy agency MI5 stating he is trying to “encourage preparedness”.
Following a now well-trodden theme that soldiers will not be an elite class of problem solvers sequestered from society, but that society should be prepared to become soldiers themselves, Director General Sir Kenneth McCallum said in his annual security threat report that: “they’re aiming at people, businesses, communities. At the cohesion of our society. So today I want to talk directly to the British public… We all have a stake in our national security. And because we all have a stake, we have some adapting to do.”
He added: “My message to the British public is this: you have a stake in our national resilience. You too have a vital role to play. It might be quiet. It might be life-saving. It all counts.”
This change, he said, is down to a rapidly developing threat picture against the United Kingdom, and a growing workload on MI5. Part of this, he said, was down to the surge in state-backed threats to the country, which he said is now equal in magnitude to counter-terrorism work, having quadrupled in the past decade.
In all, there are now greater state-backed threats against the United Kingdom than there were even during the Cold War, and the sudden need for intelligence agencies to adapt to a new era of insecurity is a 9/11-like moment, he said.
Sir Ken tacitly confirmed MI5 is involved in the investigation into the slaying of veteran conservative lawmaker and Reform UK spokesman Anne Widdecombe, allegedly beaten to death with a hammer by a left-wing extremist in her own home, and a possibly connected plot against party leader Nigel Farage, presently in the UK courts. These attacks and others like them are “part of a concerning trend of violence targeted at political figures, religious or community groups and more”, he said.
Yet much of what the spy boss addressed in this very meant-for-public-consumption address was away from the most sharp end of counter-terrorism, and lingered rather on the risk of the internet. McCallum described the internet radicalising young men, social media pushing anti-mass-migration campaigners into outright terror plots against “venues connected to immigration and asylum”, and hinted at fake news.
Parents were told to “have a word with a teacher, healthcare professional, or someone you trust in your community” if they suspected their children are “being taken down some dark paths on the internet”, while the public in general were implored to “think about what you’re willing to believe, from whom, and why” while watching the news. Sir Ken said:
Our adversaries are not just trying to mess with our infrastructure, they’re trying to manipulate how we feel… In the era we’re now in, the cohesion and confidence of our communities has become a national security front line.
Those who mean us harm are trying – often with a helping hand from polarising algorithms – to divide our communities and turn us against one another… [they] invest heavily in trying to distort and divide our society, weaponising whatever frictions they notice. Their trolls aren’t geniuses, by the way; they only get a foothold if we give them one.”
While the spy boss claimed that MI5 would and could not get involved in British politics itself, and that its role was limited to protecting democracy itself, when questioned by journalists after his prepared words he appeared to take a minor hand in the recent firestorm surrounding the Prime Minister revitalising the decade-old Russia-Brexit conspiracy theory. As earlier reported, Andy Burnham had turned the longstanding government position that Russia has attempted to interfere in the outcome of the 2016 referendum but failed, and implied in a podcast appearance that it had actually managed to steer Britain’s democracy.
The BBC reports McCallum re-stated the classic version of events, saying it is “not new news” that there was “interference attempted” but no “outcome achieved”, and that the British people voted to leave the European Union in 2016 is “not in dispute”.
Actually, he said, because part of the purpose of Russian interference in Western elections isn’t just influencing the outcome but undermining confidence in the integrity of elections as a whole, damaging democracy, McCallum stated he was “worried” about re-opening the discussion over the 2016 vote. He said: “I am a little bit anxious that we don’t play into our adversaries’ hands by making these trolls look 10ft tall”.
Breitbart News has previously reported on the growing rhetoric that the changing security picture in the West means coming conflict will involve the whole of society, with the public being drafted to create the second or third echelon once the pre-war forces are depleted. As stated:
Talk of imminent war stalks the discourse in the United Kingdom… Both NATO and Westminster have spent the past two years drumming the idea into the British public that the post-Cold War era is over and the West is now in a 1930s-like pre-war state, if not already in the prelude of ‘Hybrid war’. The leitmotif of these warnings is the coming conflict, be it successfully deterred or not, will be a “whole of society event” and young Britons will be a particularly important part of that.
… the head of the UK Armed Forces Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton made similar remarks. He added: “Sons and daughters, colleagues, veterans, will all have a role to play. To build, to serve and, if necessary, to fight. And more families will know what sacrifice for our nation means”.
The same day, the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency MI6 said it would now be acting like the Second World War SOE agency, which launched sabotage campaigns against enemies in Europe. The Director said: “At an operational level, we will sharpen our edge and impact with audacity, tapping into – if you like – our historical SOE instincts… We will never stoop to the tactics of our opponents. But we must seek to outplay them. In every domain. In every way.”