|
MI5 to expand by 50%
Via Oxblog. EFL.[Britainâs] home secretary will announce plans to recruit another 1,000 staff in parliament next week, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott confirmed on Sunday. It will take several years to find and vet the staff, principally to carry out surveillance and intelligence work. Previously focused largely on Cold War and IRA suspects, the move highlights MI5âs shift to recruit many more Arabic speakers and focus on the threat from al-Qaeda. The increase will bring MI5 back up to World War II staffing levels. The agency believes there are thousands of young people moving in and out of Britain with links to groups close to the terrorist network. MI5 has been criticised in the past for failing to penetrate radical Islamic groups. "I think an awful lot of our spies might speak Russian but they are not so much for Arabic," Mr Prescott told the BBCâs Breakfast with Frost programme. "What we have got now is a readjusting to a whole different circumstance." Lots of interesting info at the link Posted by: Seafarious 2004-02-25 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=26911 |