Sir Kenneth McCallum, director general of MI5, said the West now faces a worse overall threat than in 2001 even though Al Qaeda can barely attack the West anymore and a repeat of those events is less likely after agencies adapted. New terror networks, people who radicalize themselves, and state backed terrorism have raised the risk, along with foreign state actions such as criminal sabotage, election interference and cyber strikes on power plants that were minor in 2001.

Solo attackers generate little chatter for intercepts yet mass casualty goals remain. McCallum called for new laws, new skills, and cooperation across government, industry, academia and the public to shut vulnerabilities and act quickly in crises while keeping an open economy. National security should be a shared effort so that who can respond is already clear.