There has been a 35% increase in the number of people investigated for threatening the state since last year, according to MI5.
Since 2020, MI5 and police authorities have "disrupted 19 late-stage attack plots" and "intervened in many hundreds of developing threats", Director General Sir Ken McCallum said on Thursday as part of his annual address in London.
"My teams are routinely uncovering attempts by state actors to commission surveillance, sabotage, arson or physical violence," the security service’s Director General Sir Ken McCallum said on Thursday as part of his annual address in London.
The speech also outlined the geographical variety of threats faced by the UK today.
"Anyone watching the news can see that Russia is committed to causing havoc and destruction," Sir Ken said, with reference to recent cyber attacks across Europe, but also referred to "foot soldiers" being used by Russia, such as "Bulgarian nationals, motivated by money and the thrill of playing spies".
Iran’s "autocratic regime" was mentioned, with MI5 having grown its counter-Iran effort in the last year.
"MI5 has tracked more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots in just the one year since I last stood at this podium," Sir Ken said.
He also said that while the UK-China relationship is "by its nature complex", MI5’s role "is not".
