Domestic security service director warns against preparing to fight ‘yesterday’s enemy using yesterday’s methods,’ points to foiled plot to kill hundreds of Jews in Manchester
(LONDON) — Intelligence services must not dwell too much on past threats but accept that a new strategic shock along the lines of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks could already be in preparation where they are not looking, the head of Britain’s MI5 spy agency said.
In an opinion piece published on Friday to mark 25 years since al-Qaeda terrorists crashed hijacked US passenger planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, MI5’s Director General Ken McCallum said security agencies had to be ready to adapt to current and future challenges.
“We know that the next strategic shock will, by definition, not resemble the last one. That is perhaps the most important lesson of all,” McCallum wrote in the commentary for the Independent newspaper.
“We must of course always learn from the last attack — but must beware of preparing brilliantly to fight yesterday’s enemy, using yesterday’s methods, against yesterday’s target… The uncomfortable truth is that the next strategic shock may already be taking shape somewhere we are not yet looking.”
