"The Dragons have returned"; European country in danger

This warning was issued by the director of Britain’s security service MI5, Ken McCallum.

In an article published in the British newspaper The Independent, McCallum stressed that intelligence services must not rely solely on lessons from the past, but must be prepared for new types of strategic shocks.

“We must resist the temptation to admire the defenses we built yesterday and instead build the ones we will need tomorrow,” McCallum wrote.

He said he was proud of MI5’s work in disrupting the activities of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda following the September 11 attacks, stressing that the agency’s ability to constantly adapt had been crucial in dealing with the threats at the time.

According to McCallum, Al-Qaeda’s capabilities today represent only a “fraction” of what the organization was capable of in 2001. However, he noted that security challenges in the 2020s have become “even more complex.”

McCallum particularly highlighted the changing nature of the threats, pointing to recent attacks on synagogues in the United Kingdom, as well as the fact that much of the infrastructure, systems and services that could be targeted in attacks are now located in the private sector rather than being state-owned.

Speaking about modern-day risks, the head of MI5 compared the current world with the situation following the end of the Cold War and recalled a remark by then-CIA Director James Woolsey that the West had “slain a great dragon” but was faced with a “bewildering variety of poisonous snakes.”

“Now we face the worst of both worlds: the dragons have returned, but the snakes are still there,” McCallum said.

He stressed that the “horrors of 9/11 have marked me forever,” adding that 25 years later, he feels every day the responsibility of MI5 to adapt “at an even greater pace” and help strengthen Britain’s resilience against new security challenges.

McCallum has headed MI5 since 2020 and has spent more than 25 years working for the British security service.