In brief
At a 2026 MI5 keynote, Sir Ken McCallum said the level of threats to the UK has multiplied, pointing to Russia’s hybrid warfare, Iran’s campaign against Jewish sites and the military, and the dangerous potential of AI for bioweapons and drones. He highlighted a 2023 law that has been used against China, Iran and Russia, and announced an AI Threat Assessment Centre in partnership with the AI Security Institute. McCallum warned that extreme right‑wing terrorism is rising, noting the UK’s terrorist threat level was increased to severe this year. The intelligence chief’s address emphasises a massive resource shift to matching the scale of the dual menace from state and non‑state actors.
MI5 is devoting more resources to countering state threats than during the Cold War, Sir Ken McCallum told reporters at the agency’s annual address in London.
McCallum said threats from foreign adversaries had quadrupled in the last decade. Russia is “aggressor number one”, Iran is ramping up attacks on Jewish communities and military sites, and the use of artificial intelligence is “super‑charging the cyber‑security contest”.
He warned that extremist groups could use AI to produce tailored propaganda, let drones scan targets, or develop bioweapons, a danger he said is “not yet realised” but could change the stakes. The intelligence community is working with the UK’s AI Security Institute and has set up an AI Threat Assessment Centre to separate bluster from reality.
McCallum highlighted that extreme right‑wing terrorism has increased, with many cases rooted in anti‑immigration and anti‑Muslim grievance. He cited a recent investigation of a 13‑year‑old extremist that helped prevent a lethal attack abroad.
The chief said the National Security Act of 2023 is being used to tackle threats from China, Iran and Russia, and that MI5 has arrested 50 people linked to Iran‑related activities this year. He added that Iran’s influence extends beyond RAF Fairford, where a suspected Iranian drone attempt was uncovered.
He described Russia’s strategy as “hybrid warfare”, using cyber‑attacks, sabotage and misinformation without conventional military confrontation. MI5 has expelled almost 1,000 Russian diplomats since the invasion of Ukraine, forcing the Kremlin to hire criminals to execute its agenda.
The MI5 chief concluded that counter‑terrorism and state‑threat work are now of “equal scale”, marking a “huge shift” in recent years. He urged the public not to inflate the menace of social media trolls, stressing that the outcome of the 2016 referendum was not in dispute.
