Britain creates joint military intelligence service amid sharp rise in threats
The UK has announced the biggest reform of its military intelligence in a decade, creating a new joint Military Intelligence Services MIS structure. The decision was made against the backdrop of growing cyberattacks, disinformation and attempts by hostile states to influence critical infrastructure. This is reported by The Public with reference to the UK government website.
MIS will for the first time unite all intelligence units of the Royal Navy, Army, Air Force, Space Command and Joint Staff. This format should allow for faster data collection and sharing across the armed forces and government agencies. According to the Ministry of Defence, the level of hostile activity against the ministry increased by more than 50% last year alone.
A new DCIU unit focused on counterintelligence has been launched in parallel. Its task will be to identify and block attempts by foreign intelligence services to gain access to military programmes, logistics and defence technologies. In a report on the Skripal incident, British intelligence emphasised that foreign agents are acting much more aggressively than in previous years.
The MIS and DCIU were launched at the Wyton base in Cambridgeshire, home to one of Europe's largest classified information processing centres, which works in close coordination with Five Eyes partners.
Defence Secretary John Healey said Britain is moving towards "smarter intelligence", based on modern technology, streamlined structures and faster data flow. This will allow us to predict enemy moves and respond in a timely manner to threats to critical infrastructure.
As part of the reform, the Defence Intelligence Academy is also being established to train specialists in cyber defence, space intelligence and geo-analytics.
The government is also strengthening the security sector financially. By 2035, the UK plans to spend 5% of GDP on national security, and the defence budget will grow to 2.6% of GDP in 2027.
Against the backdrop of these steps, the UK Foreign Office has again warned of a large-scale information war on the part of Russia. London has imposed new sanctions against media resources and companies linked to Russia and China that have been engaged in cyber activity against European states.
The authorities emphasise that the new military intelligence system should strengthen the country's resilience to hybrid threats and ensure preventive defence in all areas, from cyberspace to sea lanes.
