MI5 FOILS 20 MAJOR TERROR ATTACKS IN 4 YEARS
SPYMASTER Andrew Parker yesterday warned the threat from Islamic terrorists “is multidimensional, evolving rapidly, and operating at a scale and pace we’ve not seen before”.
Describing it as an “acute and enduring challenge”, the directorgeneral of MI5 said in a speech: “It’s at the highest tempo I’ve seen in my 34-year career.
“Today there is more terrorist activity, coming at us more quickly, and it can be harder to detect.”
He had special praise for his agents “who courageously work in secret, close to the extremists, who do so much to help us prevent terrorist atrocities”.
He said 20 attacks in the UK have been foiled over the past four years and “many more” were prevented by early interventions.
There have been record numbers of terrorism-related arrests – 379 in the year to June.
Mr Parker said: “Just in the past seven months, we and the police have thwarted seven terrorist plots by Islamist extremists.
“But tragically four such attacks have taken place, plus a further attack at Finsbury Park – 36 innocent people have lost their lives and many more have been injured or affected in some way by these despicable acts.”
There had also been “a steady drum beat of attacks” across Europe by people inspired by Islamic State, which is referred to by the security services as Daesh.
MI5 is running more than 500 live operations involving about 3,000 individuals involved in extremist activity. He said: “Risk can also come from returnees from Syria and Iraq and also the growing pool of over 20,000 individuals that we have looked at in the past in our terrorism investigations – and there will be some violent extremists not yet known to us at all.
“This upshift is driven by Daesh’s murderous strategy and online propaganda.
“Threats are sometimes now coming at us more quickly, whether crude but lethal attack methods – for example using a knife or a vehicle – or more sophisticated plots when in today’s world terrorists can learn all that they need online to make explosives and build a bomb.”
MI5 also continues to tackle terrorism in Northern Ireland and espionage by Russia and other foreign states, Mr Parker said.
Of the women and men of MI5 – set to grow from 4,000 to 5,000 over the next couple of years – he said: “They get up and come to work every single day to make terrorist attacks less likely and to keep the country safe. We are constantly evolving to stay ahead.”
THIS country is facing a terrorist threat of unprecedented gravity, according to MI5 chief Andrew Parker, multi-dimensional, evolving rapidly and operating at an enormous scale and pace.
Mr Parker is quite right to warn us of course but before we all become too paralysed by fear to get out from under the duvet let us remember that we have been here before.
For decades this country lived through repeated attacks by the IRA, we did not give in to the terrorists then and we will not do so now. The best way to defeat IS is to carry on as normal and that is what we shall do.
That said, this warning comes at a time when unprecedented numbers of immigrants have come into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa and nothing like enough has been done to stop them. Angela Merkel, in particular, in an act of near criminal stupidity, encouraged them to cross the borders and the fact is we do not know who many of them are.
Europe is belatedly waking up to the threat in its midst as the rise of antiimmigration parties shows and at long last is doing something to strengthen border control. It is imperative we do the same.
Mr Parker’s speech comes just days after the announcement that there are one million illegal immigrants in this country who will never be found nor deported – perhaps this might give someone somewhere the impetus to do just that.
The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens. The Prime Minister and her colleagues must act now.