UK’s new spy chief warns the ‘front line is everywhere’ amid growing threat from Russia

By Caitlin Danaher, Nick Paton Walsh, CNN

(CNN) — The new head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6 has warned the nation in her first public speech that the UK is “now operating in a space between peace and war” and “the front line is everywhere,” amid growing tensions with Russia.

Blaise Metreweli became the first female chief of the Secret Intelligence Service’s 116-year history when she took up her post this fall. Commonly referred to as “C,” the chief is the only publicly named member of the famously secretive organization.

In a speech at MI6 HQ in London on Monday, Metreweli highlighted the acute threat posed by Russia, and called out Moscow’s attempts to “bully, fearmonger and manipulate.”

“We all continue to face the menace of an aggressive, expansionist and revisionist Russia, seeking to subjugate Ukraine and harass NATO … (Putin) is dragging out negotiations and shifting the cost of war onto his own population,” she said.

Emphasizing the need to master new technology, Metreweli said recent advances in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and quantum computing could converge to create “science-fiction-like tools” which could be used as perilous weapons.

The chief previously led the service’s technology and innovation teams, a position made famous as “Q” in the James Bond movies.

From AI-powered robots that could have devastating impacts on the battlefield, to algorithims that could “become as powerful as states,” the new spy chief warned of the need to harness “every byte of data” for the UK’s strategic advantage.

She also highlighted the increasingly complex landscape of threats facing the UK, which is being contested “from sea to space … battlefield to the boardroom. And even our brains, as disinformation manipulates our understanding of each other and ourselves.”

Security experts say Russia has been waging a hybrid war on Western allies of Ukraine, following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. In the UK, Russian-backed operatives have set fire to Ukrainian-linked factories, police said.

Elsewhere in Europe, drones spotted near airports have halted flights, NATO airspace has been violated in Poland and Romania, and underwater cables have been disrupted in the Baltic Sea, sparking fears of sabotage. Russia has not claimed responsibility for any involvement in these incidents.

The MI6 boss also underlined the power of human agency in tackling threats to UK security.

“The defining challenge of the 21st century is not simply who wields the most powerful technologies, but who guides them with the greatest wisdom. Our security, our prosperity and our humanity depend on it,” Metreweli said.

In a more dangerous, tech-mediated world, the chief called for the “rediscovery of our shared humanity,” to determine how the future unfolds.

“Our world is being remade. And for the first time, we are all at the heart of it,” she said.

“It is not what we can do that defines us, but what we choose to do. That choice – the exercise of human agency – has shaped our world before, and it will shape it again,” she added.

The MI6 chief’s address comes just a week after a speech by British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, in which she highlighted the threat of information warfare. The government had sanctioned numerous organizations and individuals responsible for “delivering Russia’s information warfare,” Cooper said, as well as two China-based companies for their “vast and indiscriminate cyber activities against the UK and its allies.”

Earlier this year, MI6 launched an online portal aimed at using the dark web to entice potential spies to send secrets, particularly targeting Russia.

The portal, called Silent Courier, allows anonymous access to a secure MI6 messaging platform where users can send information to UK intelligence services from anywhere in the world. The launch came after the former spy chief Richard Moore used a rare public speech in Prague in July 2023 to appeal to Russian citizens to spy for the UK.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.