Britain's new foreign intelligence chief used her first public address Monday to warn that Russia is mounting a broad campaign of sabotage and disruption across Europe. Blaise Metreweli, who became the first woman to lead MI6 in October, said Russia represents an "acute threat" to Western countries and is involved in plots including arson, physical sabotage, assassinations, cyberattacks, and drone attacks. "The new frontline is everywhere," she said in a speech at MI6 headquarters in London, arguing that Russia's strategy is to export instability as a deliberate tool of foreign policy.
In laying out the related challenges MI6 faces, Metreweli said, per the BBC, "We are now operating in a space between peace and war." She described a "new age of uncertainty," in which Russia and other adversaries use cyber tools, disinformation, and other technologies to undermine democratic systems. Intelligence services must overhaul their practices to keep pace, Metreweli said in calling for MI6 to fully integrate artificial intelligence and digital skills into its operations and culture.
The UK's defense staff chief sounded a similar alarm Monday in a speech to a think tank, per Reuters. Europe could face a wider war than the one Russia is waging on Ukraine, Richard Knighton said. "The Russian leadership has made clear that it wishes to challenge, limit, divide and ultimately destroy NATO," he said. Knighton urged preparation, including encouraging more people to be ready to fight in the army and the reserves and expanding industry's capacity for building arms. And the UK has to win the technology race, which he said involves skills everyone needs to learn. "Sons and daughters, colleagues, veterans ... will all have a part to play," Knighton said.
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