The remarks by Secret Intelligence Service head John Sawers to a London audience followed the government's recently released National Security Strategy, which cited a terrorism attack on the United Kingdom as a greater threat than a nuclear strike.
"Terrorism is difficult enough, and despite our collective efforts, an attack may well get through. The human cost would be huge," said Sawers, who leads the foreign-intelligence gathering agency popularly known as MI6. "But our country, our democratic system, will not be brought down by a typical terrorist attack."
"The dangers of proliferation of nuclear weapons and chemical and biological weapons are more far-reaching. It can alter the whole balance of power in a region," he said (William Maclean, Reuters I, Oct. 28).
Sawers also said there was a strong need for vigorous vetting of intelligence findings, citing failures leading up to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which was based largely on the assertion that the Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. Following the invasion, no operational arsenals or indicators of active WMD programs were found.
http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20101028_9069.php
