LONDON -- Terrorists are using advances in technology to communicate out of the reach of the authorities, the head of MI5 said Thursday, in the first live interview a serving MI5 boss has given in the organisation's history.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today show, Andrew Parker said that the government’s plans for new surveillance powers were vital, adding that Internet companies have an “ethical responsibility” to tell intelligence agencies about potential threats.
Parker insisted that keeping tabs on terrorists has gotten harder in recent years, saying that intelligence agencies "can no longer obtain under proper legal warrant the communication of people they believe to be terrorists.”
"It's in nobody's interests that terrorists should be able to plot and communicate out of the reach of authorities," he added.
MI5 Director General Andrew Parker, live now, being interviewed by @MishalHusainBBC. Listen: http://t.co/ZAGKL2pr4z pic.twitter.com/i2AzgwYxnO— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) September 17, 2015
Home Secretary Theresa May called U.S. Internet providers and British phone companies to a meeting Tuesday to discuss the the Communications Data Bill, which has long been dubbed the “Snooper’s Charter.”
A draft bill is due in October, and is expected to require Internet and phone companies – including Facebook and Google - to store call and message data and browsing history for up to a year, and hand over any relevant data to police and security services.
Parker said the bill was “completely for ministers to propose, and parliament to decide. It's a fundamental point about what MI5 is. It's for us to follow what's set by parliament, and that's what we do."
However, MI5 reiterated the threat to the country in a press release following the interview, revealing that security agencies have thwarted six attempts to attack the UK in the last 12 months, with another nine plots overseas stopped.
“MI5 needs the tools to be able to follow terrorists in cyberspace as much as when they are walking down the street,” they said.
Parker also rejected suggestions that security service tactics can help radicalise individuals, something that was raised following the unmasking of “Jihadi John” as Londoner Mohammed Emwazi.