Simon Barrett, a Christian and Analyst on the Middle East and Terrorism was speaking on Premier’s News Hour after the head of MI5 revealed six attempted terrorist atrocities have been thwarted in the United Kingdom in the a year ago.
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Mr Parker said: “We are seeing plots against the United Kingdom directed by terrorists in Syria; enabled through contacts with terrorists in Syria; and inspired online by Isil’s sophisticated exploitation of technology”.
Parker was giving the Lord Mayor of London’s annual defence and security lecture and he admitted that the current level of threat was the highest he has seen in his 32-year career.
Parker’s words come as the United Kingdom government is expected to unveil its new investigatory powers bill.
Andrew said ISIS uses online communication networks (like Whatsapp) ‘to spread its message of hate, and to inspire extremists, sometimes as young as their teens, to conduct attacks in whatever way they can’.
He also said that for the first time, MI5 had to carry out computer hacking attacks against terrorists in order to crack their communications.
He spoke of a “three-dimensional threat” – at home, overseas and online – with an increasing proportion of the agency’s casework linked to Syria and Islamic State.
Six “mass casualty” attacks were planned in the U.K.by ISIL in the past year with more being prepared, an intelligence chief has warned.
Despite Britain enduring horrific attacks in the past including 7/7, the terror threat here may not have reached its “high water mark” yet, Andrew said.
“Today the conversations of our adversaries are happening on a bewildering array of devices and digital platforms, often provided by companies based overseas”, he said. The measures include a contentiously-debated previously-defeated surveillance bill, nicknamed the Snoopers’ Charter, requiring telecommunication providers to retain client metadata for 12 months and make it available to authorities.
“By outlining the scale and nature of the threat, Britain’s security services are hoping to bounce MPs into agreeing greater powers to eavesdrop on suspicious communications”, writes Nisbet.
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Parker highlighted the importance of intercepting communication data, but added many forms of communication data are now unreachable be security services as apps and messaging services become more sophisticated.
