Russia and China are stepping up their spying activities against Western countries, and there is an “increasingly narrowing window for the UK and its allies to stay ahead,” according to Britain’s top intelligence official.
In a rare speech delivered at Bletchley Park, an estate in Buckinghamshire, England, that was the center of Allied code-breaking efforts during World War II, Anne Keast-Butler, director of GCHQ, the United Kingdom’s intelligence and cybersecurity agency, warned of a renewed threat to the West from adversaries that have gained new momentum.
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Part of this threat is related to artificial intelligence and the way it is transforming warfare.
“Warfare is being reconfigured; becoming increasingly data-driven, AI-driven and automated in conflicts ranging from Ukraine to Iran,” she said, adding that “China is now a scientific and technological superpower, with sophisticated capabilities in its intelligence, cyber and military agencies.”
At the same time, Russia is increasing its aggressiveness abroad, he added.
“Russia is expanding its daily hybrid activities against the UK and Europe, from the seabed to cyberspace, relentlessly attacking critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust,” she said.
Keast-Butler’s speech, delivered on the 80th anniversary of the creation of the 1946 UK–US signals intelligence agreement — a precursor to the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance between the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada — comes at a time when both China and Russia have become bolder in their surveillance and espionage efforts.
In the United Kingdom earlier this month, a border agent and a former Hong Kong commercial official were found guilty of spying on dissidents for China in the first case of its kind in the country.
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In the United States, two Chinese citizens were charged last summer with allegedly working for China’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s intelligence agency, and trying to recruit spies within the American military.
Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence assessments warn that both China and Russia have increased the amount of surveillance equipment in Cuba that could be used to spy on the United States.
The two countries have also practically tripled their number of troops on the island since 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Trump administration has recently increased pressure on Cuba, in part by formally indicting 94-year-old revolutionary leader Raúl Castro on conspiracy to kill American citizens, among other charges, last week.
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Faced with this increase in espionage activities by Western adversaries, both companies and individuals need to treat cybersecurity with “10 times greater” urgency, said Keast-Butler. For the British government, this means strengthening ties with allies and establishing new partnerships.
For citizens, “this means taking important steps now to replace passwords with access keys,” she said.
Still, Keast-Butler avoided advocating a ban on foreign information technology infrastructures. She noted that other countries have adopted this approach, but in her assessment it does not work.
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Instead, the UK should support its national technology companies, encourage strong encryption and protect its supply chains, he argued.
“Sovereignty doesn’t have to mean ‘made in the UK’ as long as we carefully manage our supply chains, supplier dependencies and data,” he said.
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