EXCLUSIVE: MI5 chief says UK faces 'fight to keep our way of life' - as he reveals Ru

[Boats]

EXCLUSIVE: MI5 chief says UK faces 'fight to keep our way of life' -
as he reveals Russia and China are targeting MPs... yet toothless
laws leave us 'with one hand tied behind our backs'.
By: REBECCA CAMBER CRIME AND SECURITY EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL - 02-18-22
Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...eting-MPs.html

The head of MI5 today lays bare the terrifying threat to Britain from hostile nations.

Ken McCallum says 'we are in a struggle here' for our very way of life.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, he warns Russia and China are waging an all-encompassing 'contest' for international supremacy, seeking to interfere in Parliament, shape public thought and steal from businesses, universities and ordinary Britons.

'It's important not to frame this as a Cold War II, but at the same time to be clear-eyed that we are in a struggle here,' he says.

'We do need to stand up for our values, for our system, for the benefits of the democratic way of life that we, and our allies, hold dear.'

However, in his interview today, the Director General also warns that MI5 is being hamstrung by outdated laws which make it impossible to prosecute foreign spies.

'We are in effect operating with one hand behind our back on state threats,' he admits.

His warning comes against the backdrop of the crisis in Ukraine, with British and western officials apparently convinced that President Putin has made up his mind to invade in a move that threatens to destabilise Nato's eastern flank.

Mr McCallum also warns that Russia and China are both desperate to gain a foothold in the House of Commons by targeting MPs and their advisers.

He says: 'It's always been the case that people close to the seat of power will be subject to attempted influence. The assertiveness of some of that influencing might be on the rise.'

Delivering a chilling assessment of the threats facing Britain and its Nato allies, Mr McCallum says:

*The threat from hostile states now rivals that from terrorism in terms of the level of potential danger it presents to the UK.

*MPs have passed on intelligence about more suspected hostile state approaches since Chinese spy Christine Lee was outed by MI5 last month.

*The crisis in Ukraine could see Russian espionage, cyber strikes and interference being brought to bear in 'sharp form' in the UK.

* Ordinary Britons are being targeted on a 'mass scale' by our adversaries using professional networking sites such as LinkedIn.

Mr McCallum said it was getting harder for MI5 to decide whether to prioritise home-grown terrorists or foreign spies, such was the threat of interference, cyber-attacks and espionage by agents of powerful nations including Russia and China.

He said that the crisis in Ukraine also threatened to unleash a wave of cyber-attacks from Russia which could strike UK organisations, paralysing businesses or even shut down an NHS hospital.

Mr McCallum said: 'Clearly what's happening in Russia and Ukraine is a cause for very grave concern. What does matter in my organisation's role is how these threats manifest back here in the UK.

'We are very alive to the type of threats that could manifest in a sharper form in the coming days or weeks and of course cyber security is naturally strongly on that list.'

Mr McCallum believes Britain must be prepared to fight off 'ongoing attempts by a range of other nations to influence our economy, our democracy, our society'.

But he described his frustration that outdated laws made it impossible to lock up foreign spies.

Unlike the US, which has a law against 'unregistered foreign agents' dating from 1938, Britain has to rely on the Official Secrets Act.

This means that Government officials can be prosecuted for leaking information but it allows the spies themselves to go free.

In May, Boris Johnson pledged to introduce a Bill to counter hostile states, making it a criminal offence if any individuals working on behalf of foreign governments do not register their presence here.

However, it remains to be seen whether the new law will be enough to stop spies such as Christine Lee, who also had British citizenship, and it is not clear how quickly it can be brought in.

Mr McCallum said the Official Secrets Act was not fit for purpose: 'Laws that had stood the test of time over theft of state secrets are insufficient to deal with the more nuanced interconnected world in which we all live.

'We don't have in my view sufficient legal powers to deal with some of what we are now seeing.

'With state threats we seek to do everything we can to make the UK resilient but in many cases we don't have the ability to bring prosecutions in the criminal courts, for example it is not presently a criminal offence to be a covert agent of a foreign power.

'It is frustrating. At the moment we are in effect operating with one hand behind our back on state threats. We think we could do a better job for our nation if some of those gaps were closed.'

The spy chief said the peril from hostile states now rivalled domestic terrorism. He said: 'Every Monday morning, I convene a senior team who focus on the threats that our nation is facing.

'Typically over the past two decades most times that conversation has been dominated by terrorist threats, specifically from Al Qaeda, so-called Islamic State and increasingly sadly threats from extreme Right-wing terrorism and also still residual terrorist threats in Northern Ireland.

'But over the past few years we have sadly seen a big resurgence in various threats, espionage and interference to the UK from a number of powerful nations.'

Mr McCallum warned there were 'ongoing attempts' by a range of nations to influence 'our economy, our democracy, our society', warning: 'These other components of UK life – the public sector, the academic sector and so forth – are still very much central to these ongoing waves of shaping activity, and need to be aware of that and make conscious smart choices.

'We need to be clear that there is in effect a contest of different worlds now taking place, sometimes visibly, sometimes invisibly, between the liberal democrat model West and the more authoritarian model nations.

'What we are dealing with won't, I don't think, become a confrontation of the sort our grandparents would recognise. [And] the UK does not need to cut itself off from the world.

'But we do need to be clear that standing up for our values and our way of life matters and sometimes that involves tough choices.'

A month on from MI5's unprecedented warning that Chinese spy Lee had infiltrated Parliament to target the highest levels of Government, Mr McCallum said MPs should expect a lot more foreign 'interference alerts' in future.

He revealed that other MPs had since flagged concerns about suspect approaches. 'That was a very helpful thing,' he said.

Mr McCallum said both Russia and China were attempting to access advisers who have the Prime Minister's ear.

'It will always be the case that those that are seeking to exert influence on our political life will want to influence those advisers in order that their point of view can be heard. Those advisers themselves are typically very aware of these risks.'

He also described the 'online cultivation' of ordinary Britons at 'mass scale' by our adversaries using professional networking sites such as LinkedIn and social media.

British citizens, experts, business people and academics were being approached by people 'making some very complimentary remarks about some seminar they have given or a paper they have written or inviting them to a conference'.

'It's something we see happening thousands and thousands of times and not too many of those people have to respond positively to make it worth the while of those who are trying to do this type of online cultivation, and so that remains a real danger.'
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Personal note: Sooner or later Rusia - China and may North Korea will attempt
to break the spirit of Civil Liberty and to destroy American values and ideals.
It's no joke - they want to rule this world and the issues of late are begnning to
show the signs of this movement. We've not lost this battle yet - but the works
are in place to discourage - and demeane our way of life. Once they've ridden
the US ideals - they will war upon them selves to become the loan Supreme Leader
of the World Order. The end results are too drastic to even summarize.
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Remember: Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely - demi-gods is what they
will become. And inturn they will destroy themselves one by one to become
the worlds supoerior leader. New rules - New guidelines - Kowtow presenations
you name it - the enitre world will eventually be immune to past objects and the
People will be just a statistic in their eyes.
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You want to live like that - I don't - I will fight that to my death should that
day ever come.