MI5 chief warns we've entered a "new era of national security" & facing a seismic shock like 9/11 that could change world, domestic security service is now countering as many state threats as terrorist ones “trying to distort & divide our society" but Rus remains "aggressor No1" youtu.be/xfViRFhx2xQ
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MI5 chief warns of 'radical' new threats to Britain's national security
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![MI5 chief warns Britain faces greater danger now than on 9/11
In an exclusive op-ed for The Independent on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 , Sir Ken McCallum warns Britain faces the ‘worst of both worlds’ – as Russia and China pose growing threats alongside terrorism
Sam Kiley
Friday 11 Sep 2026 05:00 BST - excerpts:
He [Sir Ken] writes: “This is my call to arms after 25 years: government, business, academia, and the public must treat national security not as the specialist concern of a handful of agencies, but as a shared national endeavour.”
The threat level in the UK is currently at severe, the second-highest category, meaning that an attack is highly likely.
In his rare engagement with the public, Sir Ken uses The Independent to warn that the UK, and the wider West, needs to shun complacency following this success.
He writes: “Contending with rising State-backed aggression – whether sabotage subcontracted to criminals, or covert interference in our democracy, or destructive cyber attacks on power stations – demands new laws as well as new tradecraft.”
Russia has used the full spectrum of attacks that he refers to against the UK in the last 15 years as well as state-sponsored murder.
For Sir Ken, there is no “if” in the planning, or language, or that there will be another “next shock”. It is the when, where, and how to cope that must be planned for. His “call to arms” is for help from across the country.
“In 2026, unlike 2001, many of the assets, systems and services under threat sit in private sector hands. This means many of the most critical decisions will be taken not in COBR but in boardrooms.
“We need a new team of teams, preserving an open economy but cooperating across government, industry and academia, to close vulnerabilities and enable swift coherent action when crises hit.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/9-11-anniversary-terrorism-ken-mccallum-mi5-b3047320.html](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:lnk3gn6bofewehhhx6zmj2lg/bafkreibgxy6fkdy4t5h3abfhgvbwazragtjlgg7ww22q2fef2dcj66ckei)
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From The Independent
By Maira Butt & Alastair Jamieson
Dated Tue 25 Aug 2026 19:33 BST - full copy:
CIA director ‘makes mystery visit to Moscow’ with no explanation from Kremlin or Trump - Neither the Kremlin nor the CIA have commented on the visit
IMAGE US military transport plane lands in Moscow with no explanation from Kremlin or Trump [see image 3/3]
CIA director John Ratcliffe made a short visit to Moscow on Tuesday to meet with Russian officials for talks not announced by the White House or the Kremlin, according to multiple US reports.
The large US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III took off from Riga in Latvia on Tuesday morning before flying across the border into Russian airspace and landing at Vnukovo International Airport, according to data from Flightradar24.
It is thought to be Ratcliffe’s first known trip to Russia since taking up the position as intelligence chief last January.
The last time a US spy chief visited Moscow was in November 2021 when Ratcliffe's predecessor, William Burns, held talks with Vladimir Putin; three months later, the Russian president invaded Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that he did not have any further information about the aircraft when pressed by reporters.
US media, including Axios and CBS citing unnamed sources, later reported that Ratcliffe was on board the plane in order to attend meetings but did not say with whom or what the talks are expected to be about.
IMAGE The US military transport plane’s approach to Moscow was shared on social media (Social media)
The US told Ukraine to suspend strikes while a senior delegation travelled to Moscow, a source told Axios,
Donald Trump has not commented on the visit and the CIA declined to comment.
The heavy transport plane is designed for carrying troops and military equipment and arrived in Latvia on Sunday from the US Camp Springs airbase near Washington DC, according to the flight tracking website.
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