The U.K. government has launched its newest intelligence operation—after MI5 and MI6—called Military Intelligence Services (MIS). Their Dec. 12 press release, “U.K. Launches New Military Intelligence Services as Hostile Threats Surge”, explained that this “major overhaul of Defense’s intelligence organizations comes amid increasing threats to the U.K. and will keep Britain ahead of hostile states and terrorists.” Every “intelligence unit and organization within Defense” has been brought “under one organization for the first time, including units from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force,” but also U.K. Space Command and the Permanent Joint Headquarters. It is designed to deal with “escalating threats to the U.K., as adversaries intensify cyber-attacks, disrupt satellites, threaten global shipping lanes, and spread disinformation.”
The MIS operation was launched by Minister for the Armed Forces Al Carns at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire, a key intelligence site which houses “top-secret intelligence from across the Five Eyes partnership.” He told selected journalists, being given a tour, that “the shadow of war is knocking on Europe’s door once more” and warned that the next major conflict was likely to cause more casualties than any U.K. deployment for decades, and would not be a “war of choice.”
Defense Secretary John Healey, according to the press release, said: “This Government is delivering the recommendations in the Strategic Defense Review, putting Britain at the leading edge of military innovation. For intelligence, this means cutting-edge technology, clearer structures and faster data flows. This gives us sharper insights into what our adversaries might do next….”
General Sir Jim Hockenhull, Commander of the Cyber and Specialist Operations Command, even cited the discredited Skripal case as the key example of such foreign threats: “The Dawn Sturgess Inquiry, published last week, made clear that foreign intelligence services are now operating far beyond traditional espionage norms, targeting Defense personnel, technology programs, supply chains, and wider defense industry both at home and overseas.” Hence, besides the MIS, a new “Defense Counter-Intelligence Unit” was also established so that they can “disrupt and deter hostile activity more effectively.”
The i Paper reported that Director of Defense Intelligence Adrian Bird said they are now facing “hundreds of incidents” across cyber, espionage, and physical domains, originating predominantly from Russia, China, and Iran. This marks a “significant change,” he said, with the threat focus moving from terrorist groups to hostile states, which are now conducting espionage on an “industrial scale.” A “home-built Google-style search engine” and AI are to sift through intel.
