MI6 Chief says the “front line is everywhere” in first speech, as the UK faces new “age of uncertainty”

In her first public speech, the new Chief of MI6 Blaise Metreweli will set out how MI6 is tackling new and emerging threats to the UK and its allies.

• New MI6 Chief underlines power of human agency in tackling new threats to UK security. 

• In first public speech, Blaise Metreweli will say that MI6 is keeping Brits safe in a world where the rules of conflict are being rewritten, by Russia and other hostile actors.  

• Speech builds on Foreign Secretary's Locarno Centenary speech which highlighted how the UK is utilising partnerships and technology to respond to new hybrid and information threats.

In her first public speech, the new Chief of MI6 Blaise Metreweli will set out today (Monday 15 December) how MI6 is tackling new and emerging threats to the UK and its allies.

The Chief will describe the increasingly complex and interconnected nature of global threats, ranging from technological disruption and hybrid threats to terrorism and information manipulation.

Speaking from inside MI6 HQ, Metreweli will describe how the UK is evolving to meet these challenges, through building partnerships and harnessing the technology needed to protect our national security and stay ahead of our adversaries.

“…Mastery of technology must infuse everything we do. 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…”

Focusing on the new hybrid threat landscape the UK faces, Blaise Metreweli will call out the acute threat posed by an “aggressive, expansionist, and revisionist” Russia.

“…Putin should be in no doubt, our support is enduring. The pressure we apply on Ukraine's behalf will be sustained.”

“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.”

This builds on recent UK actions to expose and disrupt harmful activities threatening our national security, as the Foreign Secretary outlined the modern threats the UK now faces through information warfare. In response, the UK has sanctioned several Russian entities delivering the Kremlin's information warfare, and two China-based companies for their campaign of indiscriminate cyber activities against the UK and its allies.

The Chief will conclude today's speech by emphasising the importance of human agency in tackling traditional and emerging threats to our national security.

“…The defining challenge of the twenty-first 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…”

“…We all have choices to make ahead about how we deal with the undercurrents shaping the world. About how, in our new, faster, more dangerous and tech-mediated world, it will be our rediscovery of our shared humanity, our ability to listen, and our courage that will determine how our future unfolds…”

“…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…”