OMM Redaksiyası
The United Kingdom is facing a growing threat from extreme right-wing terrorism, with some cases involving anti-immigration and anti-Muslim grievances escalating into terrorist intent, MI5 chief Ken McCallum said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the intelligence service’s headquarters in London, McCallum said extreme right-wing terrorism tends to affect younger people and is driven by online activity. Al-Qaeda and ISIS, also known as Daesh, continue to direct and inspire attacks, he said.
“Over the last year the most marked trend has been an increase in cases where extremist versions of anti-immigration and anti-Muslim grievance are tipping into terrorist intent,” McCallum said.
He said MI5 had recently investigated a 13-year-old in the UK who had been radicalised by extreme right-wing ideology. The investigation provided information that enabled an international partner to prevent a lethal attack in its country, he added.
Russia and Iran pose state security threats
McCallum said MI5 is devoting more resources to countering threats from states than it did during the Cold War, with such threats having quadrupled. He described Russia as the UK’s “aggressor number one” and said the service’s operational work against terrorism and state threats was now of roughly equal scale.
He accused Moscow of waging hybrid warfare against the UK and other European countries while avoiding actions that could provoke a joint NATO response. Russia is seeking to destabilise European countries, he said, while its progress in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine remains “minimal and horrifically costly”.
According to McCallum, the expulsion of almost 1,000 Russian officials since the invasion began in February 2022 has weakened Moscow’s covert operations in the UK. He said Russia was increasingly turning to criminal proxies to carry out attempted attacks.
McCallum also warned that Iran was expanding its hybrid campaign in the UK. MI5 had made more than 50 arrests over activities linked to Iran during the past year, he said.
MI5 warns of AI risks
McCallum said authorities had identified terrorists seeking to use artificial intelligence to improve reconnaissance and attack methods, including through AI-enabled drones.
His greatest concern in this area, he said, was the possibility that violent extremist groups could use AI to develop biological weapons. The threat has not yet materialised, but the technology could change the risks associated with existing or new bioweapons, he added.
He said the UK intelligence community was working with the country’s AI Security Institute to address these risks.
