MI5 has been forced to make “uncomfortable choices” as it looks to “pare back” on the capacity being spent on counter-terrorism
MI5 forced to shift focus from terrorism to Russia due to ‘finite capacity’, but consider making requests to access encrypted data from Meta communications.
This revelation comes after a Bulgarian national accused of spying for Russia was paid £18,600 from a bank account in the name of collapsed payments company Wirecard, according to evidence seen by a London court on Thursday.
During the trial Telegram messages were read out in court this week showed Marsalek — who was using the alias “Rupert Ticz” — instructing Roussev to conduct surveillance on Ukrainian soldiers undergoing training at a US base in Germany, as well as journalists and Russian dissidents who were of interest to Moscow.
MI5 forced to shift focus from terrorism to Russia
Emphasising the need to intercept the communications in terrorist cases. However critics argue this opens up pandora’s box on who decides what communication is relevant to a case.
MI5 will be forced to turn focus away from terrorism and towards Russia and other hostile states as a result of the security agency’s “finite capacity”, its boss has said.
The agency will have to make “uncomfortable choices” in the face of “much more aggression from nation states”, said Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5.
The MI5 boss recently warned that Russia is intent on causing “mayhem” on UK streets and that Iranian-backed plots that pose “lethal threats” to British people are ramping up at an “unprecedented pace and scale”.
The number of state threat investigations run by MI5 has “shot up by 48%” in the last year, and 13% of people being investigated by the security agency for involvement in UK terrorism are under 18, he said at the time.
The MI5 boss has made his speech as the Starmer government looks to address Whitehall and the security services remit, including their budgets and reach.