MI5,officially the Security Service,is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6),Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ),and Defence Intelligence (DI). MI5 is directed by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC),and the service is bound by the Security Service Act 1989. The service is directed to protect British parliamentary democracy and economic interests and to counter terrorism and espionage within the United Kingdom (UK). Within the civil service community,the service is colloquially known as Box,or Box 500,after its official wartime address of PO Box 500;its current address is PO Box 3255,London SW1P 1AE.
Dame Stella Rimington is a British author and former Director General of MI5,a position she held from 1992 to 1996. She was the first female DG of MI5,and the first DG whose name was publicised on appointment. In 1993,Rimington became the first DG of MI5 to pose openly for cameras at the launch of a brochure outlining the organisation's activities.
Elizabeth Lydia Manningham-Buller,Baroness Manningham-Buller,is a retired British intelligence officer. She worked as a teacher for three years before joining MI5,the British internal Security Service. She led the newly created Irish counter-terrorism section from 1992 and then became director in charge of surveillance and technical operations. She became Director General of MI5 in October 2002 and,in that capacity,led the Security Service's response to the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Following her retirement in April 2007,she became a crossbench life peer in 2008.
Moazzam Begg is a British Pakistani who was held in extrajudicial detention by the US government in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp,in Cuba,for nearly three years. Seized by Pakistani intelligence at his home in Pakistan in February 2002,he was transferred to the custody of US Army officers,who held him in the detention centre at Bagram,Afghanistan,before transferring him to Guantanamo Bay,where he was held until January 2005.
The 7 July 2005 London bombings,also referred to as 7/7,were a series of four co-ordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamist terrorists that targeted commuters travelling on London's public transport during the morning rush hour.
Sir Kenneth Donald John Macdonald,Baron Macdonald of River Glaven,is a British lawyer and politician who served as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of England and Wales from 2003 to 2008. In that office he was head of the Crown Prosecution Service. He was previously a recorder and defence barrister. He is a life peer in the House of Lords,where he sits as a crossbencher and was previously a Liberal Democrat. He was Warden of Wadham College,Oxford until 2021.
Anwar Nasser Abdulla al-Awlaki was an American-Yemeni lecturer and jihadist who was killed in 2011 in Yemen by a U.S. government drone strike ordered by President Barack Obama. Al-Awlaki became the first U.S. citizen to be targeted and killed by a drone strike from the U.S. government. U.S. government officials have claimed that al-Awlaki was a key organizer for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda.
The United Kingdom Terror Threat Levels,often referred to as UK Threat Levels, are the alert states that have been in use since 1 August 2006 by the British government to warn of forms of terrorist activity. In September 2010 the threat levels for Northern Ireland-related terrorism were also made available. In July 2019 changes were made to the terrorism threat level system,to reflect the threat posed by all forms of terrorism,irrespective of ideology. There is now a single national threat level describing the threat to the UK,which includes Islamist,Northern Ireland,left-wing and right-wing terrorism. Before 2006,a colour-based alert scheme known as BIKINI state was used. The response indicates how government departments and agencies and their staffs should react to each threat level.
Terrorism in the United Kingdom,according to the Home Office,poses a significant threat to the state. There have been various causes of terrorism in the UK. Before the 2000s,most attacks were linked to the Northern Ireland conflict. In the late 20th century there were also attacks by Islamic terrorist groups. Since 1970,there have been at least 3,395 terrorist-related deaths in the UK,the highest in western Europe. The vast majority of the deaths were linked to the Northern Ireland conflict and happened in Northern Ireland. In mainland Great Britain,there were 430 terrorist-related deaths between 1971 and 2001. Of these,125 deaths were linked to the Northern Ireland conflict,and 305 deaths were linked to other causes,including 270 in the Lockerbie bombing. Since 2001,there have been almost 100 terrorist-related deaths in Great Britain.
CONTEST is the United Kingdom's counter-terrorism strategy,first developed by Sir David Omand and the Home Office in early 2003 as the immediate response to 9/11,and a revised version was made public in 2006. Further revisions were published on 24 March 2009,11 July 2011 and June 2018. An Annual Report on the implementation of CONTEST was released in March 2010 and in April 2014. The aim of the strategy is "to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence." The success of this strategy is not linked to total elimination of the terrorist threat,but to reducing the threat sufficiently to allow the citizens a normal life free from fear.
The attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 occurred on December 25,2009,aboard an Airbus A330 as it prepared to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport following a transatlantic flight from Amsterdam. Attributed to the terrorist organization al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP),the act was undertaken by 23-year-old Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab using chemical explosives sewn to his underwear. These circumstances,including the date,led to Abdulmutallab being commonly nicknamed either the "Underwear bomber" or "Christmas Day bomber" by American media outlets. It also could have been the worst plane crash in the history of Michigan beating out Northwest Airlines Flight 255.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab popularly referred to as the "Underwear Bomber" or "Christmas Bomber",is a Nigerian terrorist who,at the age of 23,attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253,en route from Amsterdam to Detroit,Michigan,U.S. on 25 December 2009.
Cage is a London-based advocacy organisation which aims to empower communities impacted by the War on Terror. Cage highlights and campaigns against state policies,developed as part of the War on Terror. The organisation was formed to raise awareness of the plight of detainees held at Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere and has worked closely with former detainees held by the United States and campaigns on behalf of current detainees held without trial. Cage was formerly known as Cageprisoners,and is ordinarily styled as "CAGE".
Andrew David Parker,Baron Parker of Minsmere,,is a British life peer and former intelligence officer who served as Director General of MI5 from 2013 to 2020. He served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household from 2021 to 2024,and is a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
On the afternoon of 22 May 2013,a British Army soldier,Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers,was attacked and killed by Islamist terrorists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich,southeast London.
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS),commonly known as MI6,is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom,tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligence on foreign nationals in support of its Five Eyes partners. SIS is one of the British intelligence agencies and the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service ("C") is directly accountable to the Foreign Secretary.
Sir Mark Peter Rowley is a British police officer who has been the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis since September 2022.
The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting,analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence,providing military intelligence,and performing espionage and counter-espionage. Their intelligence assessments contribute to the conduct of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom,maintaining the national security of the United Kingdom,military planning,public safety,and law enforcement in the United Kingdom. The four main agencies are the Secret Intelligence Service,the Security Service (MI5),the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Defence Intelligence (DI). The agencies are organised under three government departments,the Foreign Office,the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence.
David William Kinloch Anderson,Baron Anderson of Ipswich,is a British barrister and life peer,who was the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation in the United Kingdom between 2011 and 2017. On 8 June 2018 it was announced that he would be introduced to the House of Lords as a cross-bench (non-party) working peer. On the same day he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE),for services to national security and civil liberties,in the Queen's 2018 Birthday Honours.
Kenneth Douglas McCallum is a British intelligence officer who has been serving as the Director General of MI5 since 2020.
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