Ken McCallum | |
---|---|
Director General of MI5 | |
Assumed office April 2020 | |
Home Secretary | Priti Patel Suella Braverman Grant Shapps Suella Braverman James Cleverly Yvette Cooper |
Preceded by | Sir Andrew Parker |
Personal details | |
Born | Kenneth Douglas McCallum 1974 (age 49–50) Glasgow,Scotland |
Alma mater | University of Glasgow |
Occupation | Intelligence officer |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Branch/service | Security Service |
Years of service | 1995–present |
Rank | Director General of MI5 |
Kenneth Douglas McCallum (born 1974) is a British intelligence officer who has been serving as the Director General of MI5 since 2020.
McCallum was born in Glasgow,Scotland,in 1974. He attended a state school,after which he studied mathematics at the University of Glasgow,graduating with a first-class honours degree in 1996. [1] [2]
McCallum has been an intelligence officer at MI5 for over two decades,including service focused on Northern Ireland-related terrorism and leading counter-terrorism investigations during the London 2012 Olympic Games. [3] He was appointed Deputy Director General of MI5 in April 2017. [2]
In 2018,McCallum took charge of the MI5 response to the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal. [4]
He succeeded Sir Andrew Parker as Director General of MI5 in April 2020. [5] [3]
In 2021,McCallum said in his annual threat update that the activities of China,Russia,and other hostile states could have as large an impact on the public as terrorism,marking a significant shift in emphasis for the UK’s domestic spy agency. McCallum said that the British public will have to “build the same public awareness and resilience to state threats that we have done over the years on terrorism”. [6]
At a joint press conference with Christopher A. Wray in July 2022,McCallum said that MI5 had "more than doubled" its effort against Chinese activity over the same timeframe as part of an unprecedented joint warning with his counterpart at the FBI. He added the "most game-changing challenge" MI5 faced came from an "increasingly authoritarian Chinese Communist party". [7]
In November 2022,McCallum said there had been at least 10 potential threats by Iran to kidnap or kill British or UK-based people in 2022. McCallum also warned that the UK "must be ready for Russian aggression for years to come". [8]
In 2023 he noted the increased risks to the UK during the Israel-Gaza war. "One of the things that concerns me most right now,is to understand quite what the shape of the UK impact will be," McCallum said in an interview. He also warned there was a risk that events in the Middle East could radicalise people towards violence. [9]
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).
Barry Strachan Gardiner is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent North from 1997 until the seat's abolition in 2024 and Brent West since 2024. He is a member of the Labour Party.
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.
Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) or SO15 is a Specialist Operations branch within London's Metropolitan Police Service. The Counter Terrorism Command was established as a result of the merging of the Anti-Terrorist Branch (SO13) and Special Branch (SO12) in October 2006,bringing together intelligence,operations,and investigative functions to form a single command. CTC has over 1,500 police officers and staff,and a number of investigators based overseas and also hosts the Counter Terrorism Policing headquarters.
Jonathan Douglas Evans,Baron Evans of Weardale,is a British life peer who formerly served as the Director General of the British Security Service,the United Kingdom's domestic security and counter-intelligence service. He took over the role on the retirement of his predecessor Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller on 21 April 2007. Evans was succeeded by Andrew Parker on 22 April 2013.
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.
There is a long history of close cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom intelligence services;see Clandestine HUMINT and Covert Action for World War II and subsequent relationships. There are permanent liaison officers of each country in major intelligence agencies of the other,such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Secret Intelligence Service ("MI6"),FBI and the Security Service (MI5),and National Security Agency (NSA) and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). From 1943 to 2017,the Open Source Enterprise,a division of the CIA,was run out of Caversham Park in Reading,Berkshire. American officials worked closely with their British counterparts to monitor foreign TV and radio broadcasts,as well as online information.
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.
Mark Philip Sedwill,Baron Sedwill,is a British diplomat and senior civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service to Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson from 2018 to 2020. He also served as the United Kingdom National Security Adviser from 2017 to 2020. He was previously the United Kingdom's Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010 and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan in 2010. He was the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from February 2013 to April 2017.
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 has served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household since 1 April 2021,and is a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
Nazir Afzal is a British solicitor and former prosecutor within the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
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 Alexander William Younger is a British intelligence officer who served as the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6),from 2014 to 2020. In April 2019,the government extended Younger's contract to maintain stability through the Brexit negotiations,which made him the longest-serving MI6 chief in 50 years.
Saoradh is a far-left political party and pressure group formed by dissident Irish republicans in 2016. It is active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Police Service of Northern Ireland and independent commentators describe the party as being close with the New IRA,although Saoradh themselves deny this.
Sir Jeremy Ian Fleming was the Director of the Government Communications Headquarters,the UK's intelligence,cyber and security agency. He was appointed in 2017 and was the 16th person to hold the role. He left the post in May 2023.
On 3 June 2017,a terrorist vehicle-ramming and stabbing took place in London,England. A van was deliberately driven into pedestrians on London Bridge,and then crashed on Borough High Street,just south of the River Thames. The van's three occupants then ran to the nearby Borough Market area and began stabbing people in and around restaurants and pubs. They were shot dead by Metropolitan Police and City of London Police authorised firearms officers,and were found to be wearing fake explosive vests. Eight people were killed and 48 were injured,including members of the public and four unarmed police officers who attempted to stop the assailants. British authorities described the perpetrators as "radical Islamist terrorists".
The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal,also known as the Salisbury Poisonings,was a botched assassination attempt to poison Sergei Skripal,a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies in the city of Salisbury,England on 4 March 2018. Sergei and his daughter,Yulia Skripal,were poisoned by means of a Novichok nerve agent. Both spent several weeks in hospital in a critical condition,before being discharged. A police officer,Nick Bailey,was also taken into intensive care after attending the incident,and was later discharged.
Lindy Cameron is a British civil servant and diplomat,serving from April 2024 as British High Commissioner to India. From 2020 to 2024 she was chief executive officer at the National Cyber Security Centre,and before that Director-General in the Northern Ireland Office and the Department for International Development.
The home secretary is one of the most senior and influential ministers in the UK government,and the holder of a Great Office of State. The home secretary's remit includes law enforcement in England and Wales,matters of national security,issues concerning immigration,and oversight of the Security Service (MI5).