U.K. May Shift Intelligence Emphasis From Terrorism to Cyberattacks
The CIA will be most upset
The Chancellor is understood to have pushed MI5 and MI6 to consider devoting more money and manpower to defending Britain from cyber attacks and espionage from countries such as China.
British intelligence agencies' counter-terrorism work could be scaled back after an intervention from George Osborne.
However, senior ministers and officials are resisting pressure from the Treasury, warning that cutting counter-terrorism spending is too much of a risk.
MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, is said to be fighting a fierce rearguard action against any move to reallocate its counter-terrorism resources. Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is also said to be cautious about relaxing Britain's defences against extremist attacks.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?