The BBC reports:
MI5 chief warns of threats to UK from Russia, Iran and AI
The speech, described as 'scary' is scary but only because it doesn't even focus on the biggest threat to the UK: mass illegal immigration.
A threat that is costing billions, fuelling the rise of the far-right and altering the culture of the UK.
MI5 is devoting more resource to countering state threats than during the Cold War, the head of the intelligence service has said.
By which he mainly means Russia.
But is this really true?
Maybe MI5 is devoting more resources but during the Cold War the UK had 50-80,000 BAOR troops stationed in Germany as a 'trip-wire' against Soviet invasion of the West.
https://baor-locations.org/home-3/history-of-baor/
How many do we have now? 1200 according to UKDJ.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british-troops-in-germany-draws-down-to-1200-from-30000/
But the threat is greater to the UK or even NATO for that matter?
Sir Ken said Russia had stopped short of "conventional conflict" against Nato and is instead trying to unsettle European countries while its progress in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine is "minimal and horrifically costly".
Anyone who has followed the Ukraine conflict knows that Russia did not commit enough military resources for a 'full-scale invasion' of Ukraine and the reason for the invasion was not to 'unsettle' European countries but demonstrate that when Russian interests are threatened, it will respond. Just like the USA does with it's self-proclaimed Monroe doctrine kidnapping and killing and regime-changing all over central and South America.
He said it was a matter of public record that there were pieces in Russian media and "so-called internet trolls and bot farms" seeking to influence the Brexit debate, but also stressed that the result of the 2016 referendum was "not in dispute".
He added that he was "worried" about the the ongoing debate on Russian interference.
"I am a little bit anxious that we don't play into our adversaries' hands by making these trolls look 10ft tall," he told reporters.
That says little more than that the referendum might have been influenced by US or Israeli trolls and bots as they are everywhere or indeed by a 'dodgy dossier' like that that produced by former MI6 operative Christopher Steele to help undermine a US election.
What is laughable is that it was the UK establishment itself, in the form of the Mayor of Manchester, who raised the issue of Russian interference with the BREXIT referendum to support his proposition to 'go all the way' back into the EU - now the head of MI5 has to rowback on this nonsense by hand-wringing about whether this spin makes Russian trolls look 10-feet tall.
Presumably the reference to Russian media means RT, which only began broadcasting in the UK in 2014, as it it is hardly credible that lots of 'white van men' who voted for BREXIT read Russian!
Sir Ken did not mention arrests at RAF Fairford directly during his speech, but told reporters afterwards the incident was "not unique".
Maybe he meant that stealing fuel in the countryside (Fuel2You - geddit?) was not unique?
The MI5 head said in his speech: "What I can say is that those who seek to cause mayhem on British streets - whether hired thugs here or their paymasters overseas - will meet an unflinching response."
Was he referring here to Palestine protestors who have been arrested for peacefully opposing the Gazacide? Or UK citizens protesting about illegal immigration? Or TERF or Trans protestors? It's hard to know.
Which is the whole point of scary speeches like this - we are all meant to be afraid, to be very afraid.