UK Warns: The Shock of the Coming September 11 May Be in the Making in a Place We Are Not Watching - Sarmad

On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, UK domestic intelligence chief Ken McCallum warned that the next “strategic shock” may already be in the making in a location not monitored by global intelligence agencies, urging that lessons from past threats and attacks should not be the sole focus, and that preparations must be made for new risks that may take entirely different forms.

In an opinion piece published on Friday, marking a quarter-century since the September 11 attacks carried out by al-Qaeda militants who hijacked passenger planes and crashed them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the U.S. Department of Defense building, the Pentagon, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum stated that security agencies must be ready to adapt to current and future challenges.

McCallum wrote in the UK’s Independent newspaper: “We know that the next strategic shock will not resemble the previous one, by definition, and perhaps this is the most important lesson of all.”

He added: “Of course, we must always learn from the last attack, but we must beware of preparing skillfully to fight yesterday’s enemy, using yesterday’s methods, against yesterday’s target… The uncomfortable truth is that the next strategic shock may already have begun to take shape in a place we are not yet looking.”

McCallum continued that al-Qaeda, despite its diminished strength, remains a threat, and that the goal of carrying out attacks expected to cause large numbers of casualties remains a priority for the group and other armed factions.