Ken McCallum
Director General of MI5Wikipedia
190
MENTIONS
114
EPISODES
91
PODCASTS
Search complete. 190 mentions across 114 episodes found for "Ken McCallum".
Oct 23, 2026
Geraldine DoogueHOST
I mean, it is interesting about whether Putin, where he sits strategically or tactically, I suppose, more to the point at the moment.
Geraldine DoogueHOST
I noticed Sir Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, Britain's security service, he warned the other day that the UK had entered a new era of national security, accusing Russia and Iran of escalating these hybrid attacks.
Geraldine DoogueHOST
attacks, and obviously the RAF Fairford Air Base being one of them, where they appear to have recruited.
Geraldine DoogueHOST
I mean, it's very unclear what's happening.
Lucy PorterPANELIST
AI is another one.
Lucy PorterPANELIST
Sir Ken McCallum, who is the man in question, he told us all this in a speech in London that he gives every year, which doesn't seem very spy-y.
Andy ZaltzmanHOST
No, not really.
Lucy PorterPANELIST
Does it? Get up and do a speech.
Mike BakerHOST
And that brings us back to the warning from MI5 last week.
Mike BakerHOST
The agency's director general, Sir Ken McCallum, said its Iran-linked operations had led to more than 50 arrests in the United Kingdom over the previous year.
Mike BakerHOST
He also described a, quote, major shift toward Tehran, threatening British military sites.
Mike BakerHOST
The Iranian regime, of course, has consistently denied responsibility for suspected operations in the UK.
Neil BasuHOST
If that spreads to Germany with the AFD and those, this is absolutely a destabilizing move, which is classic hybrid warfare from hostile states.
Neil BasuHOST
And I say that because it's only been two weeks since Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, made very similar comments in his annual statement.
Neil BasuHOST
So it might be a conspiracy theory or it might just be true.
Andy HughesHOST
Yeah, well, I wouldn't be surprised.
Jiang XueqinHOST
And I want to show you how the machine is being fed right now.
Jiang XueqinHOST
Okay, because if you just read the headlines one by one, they look random, they're not random.
Jiang XueqinHOST
Look at what Iran did in the last 24 hours.
Jiang XueqinHOST
Point 1.
Charles MaletGUEST
So not much hope in her eyes, at least.
Charles MaletGUEST
And of course, as she concluded with the points made by Ken McCallum, Director General of MI5, which I think would fall into the category of being unqualified and unsubstantiated, but nevertheless making this connection between so-called food security and national security.
Charles MaletGUEST
She referred there to last month's, last month's report from the National Audit Office, which we'll just pop on screen now.
Charles MaletGUEST
And, uh, uh, she does mention some of the things, particularly with regard to the risks, uh, whether or not they're acute, uh, discrete events requiring an emergency response, whether cyberattacks, energy disruptions, animal, plant, or human disease outbreaks, 'cause of course we can't forget about them, or chronic- Risks such as climate change, which can gradually erode resilience over time.
Jan MacVarishPANELIST
You know, those, those are the students w- that will, that will find that they need free speech, and hopefully we can make it easier for them then to f- to find us.
Jan MacVarishPANELIST
Um, I always think it's a little bit like there's a Mitchell and Webb comedy sketch where there's a maths teacher in early September having just gone back to school after the summer holidays, and he's complaining to the headteacher saying, "I just don't understand it.
Jan MacVarishPANELIST
They don't seem to learn anything.
Jan MacVarishPANELIST
They don't seem to remember anything between July and September.
Jan MacVarishPANELIST
Every year it's the same.
Jan MacVarishPANELIST
It's like starting from scratch again and again." And the headteacher says, "You do realize that they're different children."
Connie ShawHOST
[laughs]
Ben JonesPANELIST
[laughs]
Alastair CampbellHOST
But what they do, both Russia and the Iranians, is they, they are very, very good and they spend a lot of money on it.
Alastair CampbellHOST
And I, I was a bit disappointed actually with Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, when he said, "You know, we shouldn't make these Russian bots feel like they're ten feet tall," slightly trying to play it down.
Alastair CampbellHOST
Th-they, they are all over this.
Rory StewartHOST
Sure.
Tom InglesbyGUEST
Could be somebody who releases a virus without any kind of formal weapons program, but just intending to cause illness or harm, either on small scale or on very large scale.
Ian SampleHOST
In his annual speech on threats to the nation recently, Sir Ken McCallum, the head of the UK's intelligence service, MI5, he warned that AI had the potential to, in quotes, change the stakes on existing and even new bioweapons.
Ian SampleHOST
This is an area that you and your colleagues have been watching, I know.
Ian SampleHOST
When did this threat associated with AI and bioweapons first hit your radar? How long has this been a concern?
Rory StewartHOST
But what they do, both Russia and the Iranians, is they are very, very good and they spend a lot of money on it.
Rory StewartHOST
And I was a bit disappointed, actually, with Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, when he said, you know, we shouldn't make these Russian bots feel like they're 10 feet tall.
Rory StewartHOST
Slightly trying to play it down.
Rory StewartHOST
They are all over this.
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