MI5
| Use attributes for filter ! | |
| Agency executive | Andrew Parker |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | London |
| United Kingdom | |
| Minister responsible | Sajid Javid |
| Secretary of State for the Home Department | |
| Employees | 31 March 2016 |
| Motto | Regnum Defende ("Defence of the Realm") |
| Founders | Vernon Kell |
| Date of Reg. | |
| Date of Upd. | |
| ID | 803051 |
About MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service, Government Communications Headquarters and Defence Intelligence.
Omagh police shooting: Attack on John Caldwell a wake up call for PSNI
... Within a year, its suspected leadership was rounded-up by the PSNI following a surveillance operation run by Mi5 using an alleged agent...
Let us name MI5 agent to protect women, BBC asks High Court
...A BBC programme wants to name an Mi5 agent because he represents a danger to other women and must be publicly identified to prevent future harm, the High Court has heard...
The Crown: Was Harold Wilson suspected of being a Soviet spy?
... But what did Mi5 really think? Let me guess, Wilson was a Labour prime minister? Yes, he was a grammar school boy from Huddersfield who went to Oxford and was a Labour prime minister from 1964 to 1970, and again from 1974 to 1976...
General election 2019: What impact on UK security and intelligence?
... Domestically, within the three UK intelligence agencies - Mi5, MI6 and GCHQ - political neutrality is overseen by extensive parliamentary and management checks...
London Bridge: Why was the attacker, Usman Khan, out of prison?
...London Bridge attacker Usman Khan came to the attention of counter-terrorism investigators because he was involved in a highly active cell around Stoke-on-Trent, part of a wider network of radicals then headed by Mi5 and the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit had intelligence that a group of nine men from London, Cardiff and Stoke, including Khan, wanted to bomb the London Stock Exchange...
UK terrorism threat downgraded to 'substantial'
... Assessments determining the country s threat level are taken by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) - part of Mi5 - which makes its recommendations independently from the government...
Spotlight IRA plan to hit south east England shows the power supply
... But the program shows how to use the key IRA bombers have been caught or killed, after extensive surveillance operations by the British police and Mi5...
MI5 ignored Cold War spy tip-off over 'jealous wife' fears
...Convicted British spies Harry Houghton and Miss Ethel Gee were both found guilty of spying and each sentenced to 15 years in prison British intelligence ignored a tip-off about one of the most significant spies of the Cold War because it came from his spurned wife, according to newly-released Mi5 files...
Let us name MI5 agent to protect women, BBC asks High Court
A BBC programme wants to name an Mi5 agent because he represents a danger to other women and must be publicly identified to prevent future harm, The High Court has heard.
The Bbc has gone to court to try and stop an injunction against a report that would identify an Mi5 agent.
The Bbc report says The Agent used his status to abuse two ex-partners - and naming Him is in The Public interest.
But the government says identifying Him risks his life and National Security .
The legal battle is over whether The Bbc can air a news story about a male Mi5 informant known only in The Court Proceedings as " X".
If aired, The Bbc 's news report would claim that X used his status as an agent to abuse, control and coerce a former partner, referred to by the pseudonym " Beth" - and that Mi5 either knew or ought to have known about this and was wrong to use Him as an agent.
Another Woman who alleges she was abused by Him - known by the pseudonym " Ruth" - has said she fears X will kill A Woman if he is not " challenged and exposed".
The government's Attorney General Suella Braverman is seeking an injunction to block the broadcast, arguing that identifying X would create a " real and immediate risk" of serious or life-threatening harm to Him and would damage National Security .
The case is being held over Two Days at The High Court by judge Mr Justice Chamberlain.
'Must be named to warn others'On Tuesday, on The First day of the hearing, lawyers representing Ms Braverman said that she " neither confirms nor denies" The Bbc 's claim that X is an agent or covert human Intelligence Source (Chis), but is conducting the hearing on the " hypothetical assumption" that he is or was.
The Bbc 's legal team told The Court : " Beth and Ruth have an intimate insight into X's psyche and behaviour, making them uniquely placed to evaluate The Risk that he poses to other women. "
Lord Pannick, representing the broadcaster, said: " He told one of those women, who we call Beth, that he worked for Mi5 in order to terrorise her, in order to control her. The programme will say that Mi5 should have known about his behaviours and realised that it was not appropriate to [have] used Him as a Chis. "
He told The Court there is a " particularly strong public interest" in The Story given the " current context of public debate" on Coercive Control of women by male partners.
And there is " simply no cogent evidence to justify a conclusion that X is at serious risk of serious harm or death" if he is identified, Lord Pannick said.
In A Witness statement, Beth said: " I think X is a very dangerous individual - to me, to ex-partners and to other women. He thinks it's okay to treat women The Way that he's treated me. I believe he must be named and identified to The Public at large to warn others. "
Ruth said in a statement: " I consider that he is dangerous enough to kill A Woman and I fear that he will do so if he is not challenged and exposed. I think it is crucial that other women know his identity and what he looks like, so that he cannot trick and harm them. "
'Damage National Security 'But Sir James Eadie QC, for the Attorney General , said: " Publication of The Report would constitute a breach of confidence/false confidence by The Bbc .
" To do so would damage National Security and The Public interest. It would also create a real and immediate risk of serious or life-threatening harm to X. "
He Said that there are " avenues for complaint and investigation" in relation to any allegations against Mi5 - and that the " most serious" allegations against X have been investigated by police and no further Action was " considered appropriate to be taken".
He added: " The case of wrongdoing by X, and the subsequent speculation that Mi5 must have been aware of it and failed to react appropriately, rests on foundations that are anything but solid.
" There is real doubt about the reliability, credibility and motivation of Beth. Police and The Crown Prosecution Service have been involved but the outcome has been no Action - in significant part because of those doubts. "
The Attorney General says there is no objection to a broadcast about the allegations against X and Mi5 's use of agents which does not identify Him , but argues that identifying Him would be a breach of confidence and infringe X's Human Rights .
Mr Justice Chamberlain told The Court earlier on Tuesday that reference to " agent" in the case meant " covert human Intelligence Source " which refers to someone who is " not a member of Mi5 " but more of an informant.
The hearing will continue on Wednesday but will largely be in closed Proceedings .
Source of news: bbc.com
