Jonathan Evans on National Security

Director General Jonathan Evans observed that the increase in the number of individuals who pose a direct threat to the UK has been driven in part by the extended coverage facilitated by MI5’s growth and regional expansion and therefore may be more a question of identification rather than actual growth.

The Director General observed the limits of his approach, and by extension the police's service, and the need for an approach wider than disruption, arrest and other defensive security initiatives.

Evans describes the effort to counter violent extremism as ‘a collective effort in which Government, faith communities and wider civil society have an important part to play’.