Westminster Notes (M15)
Al-Hayat - 22/01/07//
These days, if you look up MI5 in a reference book, such as the excellent Whitaker's Almanack, you will find mention of this Security Service. It gives MI5's postal address in London (SW1), an email address and 'phone number. It tells you Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller is its Director-General and that the Home Secretary has parliamentary accountability for it.
Whitaker's states:-
"The Security Service is responsible for security intelligence work against covertly organised threats to the UK. These include terrorism, espionage and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Service also supports the police and other law enforcement agencies in their work against serious crime and provides security advice to a wide range of organisations to help reduce vulnerability to threats from individuals, groups or countries hostile to UK interests."
For much of my life its work was clouded in great secrecy, nobody in it could be named, nobody admitted working for it, its locations were not public knowledge and, inevitably, wild rumours circulated about it. Today, we can know who is the Director-General but nobody else. MI5 recruiting habits are well known in the Universities and it has been advertising openly for new members.
On the 9th November Dame Eliza, as the press now call her, addressed a carefully chosen audience of students at Queen Mary, University of London. She seems to be, as her name rather suggests, an impressive lady. She was born into the British aristocracy in 1948; her father was a former Conservative Lord Chancellor, Viscount Dilhorne. After studying at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, she was recruited by MI5 in 1974 and became its head in 2002.
The subject of her address was the important but unpleasant one of international terrorism, the new scourge of mankind, and she had to get permission from Dr John Reid, the Home Secretary, before delivering it. No surprises then, when asked later to comment on it, both the Prime Minister and Home Secretary found themselves in agreement with it! It was a reminder that MI5 lacks the independence from the Government of the day that it rather obviously needs.
The over-egging of the intelligence on Iraq, before the invasion of that country, seriously damaged the standing of both MI5 and MI6 (the Secret Intelligence Service on external matters). The United Kingdom needs to keep its elected politicians and their political advisers out of the preparation of intelligence reports; at the same time it also needs far better scrutiny of the intelligence and security services by the House of Commons.
Dame Eliza's talk to the students was clear, striking and pessimistic. I have no doubt that the Government did exaggerate the security case, to reinforce the case for attacking Iraq; but since the bombing of London Transport on 7th July 2005 few people seriously doubt Britain has a big problem with religious extremists.
She said there were 1,600 suspects under surveillance and 30 'Priority 1' plots to kill or maim or seriously damage property. 200 terror networks have been identified in the British Isles. Most of the activity was under the direct control of al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. The Security Service's caseload has risen by 80% since January 2006.
Between 1945-1990 MI5 was much involved in trying to locate and arrest the many Soviet Union spies in Britain. It had its successes and, inevitably, its failures and it was the later the media tended to cover the most. But during the last three decades of the last century the IRA, and then the Provisional IRA, were the main targets. It will be recalled they came close to killing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and half her Cabinet at a Brighton Conference, and fired mortar bombs into Downing Street, getting close to their target.
Since the terrorist attacks in America in September 2001, MI5 has had to switch quickly to young Islamic extremists, living in the United Kingdom, and often coming from good and prosperous Muslim families. Only 6% of MI5's staff of 2,800 comes from ethnic minorities. MI5 has recorded that of the 400 people recruited in 2006, 14% were from ethnic minorities.
Dame Eliza believed that the threat to the United Kingdom:-
"is serious, is growing and will, I believe, be with us for a generation. It is a sustained campaign, not a series of isolated incidents. It aims to wear down our will to resist."
An organisation like MI5 finds it difficult to change direction. Experienced and trusted senior officials find themselves operating in a strange field to which they are newcomers. Such a change requires extra funding; MI5 is getting that, but presumably one reason for their Director-General's unusual public appearance was to suggest the need for even more money from their political masters.
Today MI5 is on the front line and I am sure it will be fully supported.
*Original English
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