Britain’s new spy chief is warning of the acute threat to Europe from an “aggressive, expansionist, and revisionist” Russia under Vladimir Putin.
Blaise Metreweli accused the Russian president of “exporting chaos” with his war in Ukraine, air incursion into eastern Europe and hybrid warfare including against Britain.
In her first public speech, the new head of MI6 was due to argue that the “defining challenge” of the 21st Century is not which nation has the most powerful technologies but who uses them with the “greatest wisdom”.
She was also set to emphasise that the “front line is everywhere” in the face of the threats from Russia and other hostile actors.
Ms Metreweli is the first female head of MI6.
Before taking the helm of the Secret Intelligence Service, she was its Director General ‘Q’, responsible for technology and innovation, a role made famous by the gadgets boffin in James Bond films.
Speaking at MI6’s headquarters in central London, she was due to lay out the dangers facing Britain including hybrid threats, terrorism, cyber attacks and information manipulation.
More specifically, she was set to highlight the acute threat posed by Putin’s “aggressive, expansionist, and revisionist” regime.
On the Ukraine war, she was expected to say: “Putin should be in no doubt, our support is enduring.
“The export of chaos is a feature not a bug in the Russian approach to international engagement, and we should be ready for this to continue until Putin is forced to change his calculus.”
Partnerships with allies and using cutting-edge new technologies are key to protecting the UK’s national security, Ms Metreweli explained.
But she was also due to stress: “The defining challenge of the 21st Century is not simply who wields the most powerful technologies, but who guides them with the greatest wisdom.
“Our security, our prosperity, and our humanity depend on it.
“It is not what we can do that defines us, but what we choose to do.
“That choice, the exercise of human agency, has shaped our world before, and it will shape it again.”
She also gave an insight into how the work of Britain’s spies is changing.
“Mastery of technology must infuse everything we do,” she was due to say.
“Not just in our labs, but in the field, in our tradecraft, and even more importantly, in the mindset of every officer.
“We must be as comfortable with lines of code as we are with human sources, as fluent in Python as we are in multiple languages.”
Meanwhile, Britain’s top soldier was due to rally the country to respond as a “whole nation”, not just relying on the armed forces, to the growing threats.
Sir Richard Knighton, Chief of Defence Staff, warned of the rising likelihood that Putin would invade a Nato country.
Addressing the Royal United Services Institute for the first time, he was set to say: “The war in Ukraine shows Putin’s willingness to target neighbouring states, including their civilian populations, potentially with such novel and destructive weapons, threatens the whole of Nato, including the UK.
“The Russian leadership has made clear that it wishes to challenge, limit, divide and ultimately destroy Nato.”
