London: Britain's top spy, in the first public speech by a serving UK espionage chief, said yesterday that terrorists might hit the West again "at huge human cost" but nuclear proliferation by states was a more far-reaching danger.
Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) chief John Sawers, in an address to the Society of Editors media group hosted at Thomson Reuters London offices, said the risks of failure in tackling proliferation by countries like Iran "are grim".
"Terrorism is difficult enough, and despite our collective efforts, an attack may well get through.
"The human cost would be huge. But our country, our democratic system, will not be brought down by a typical terrorist attack," he said.
"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," said Sawers, whose century-old service is popularly known as MI6.
He added that intelligence failings on Iraq before the 2003 invasion showed "politicians and officials alike" how important it was that sources of information were rigorously evaluated.
Faults
Improving intelligence performance has been a focus for the West since the September 11, 2001, attacks and the 2003 Iraq invasion, events involving profound faults in preparedness.
A British inquiry in 2004 by a former top civil servant, Lord Butler, said it was a "serious weakness" that caveats from intelligence chiefs were not spelt out in a September 2002 dossier which set out the government's case for disarming Iraqi President Saddam Hussain.
Former US President George W. Bush launched the Iraq invasion citing a threat of weapons of mass destruction from Saddam Hussain's government. No such weapons were found.
Sawers said the Butler Review "was a clear reminder, to both the agencies and the centre of government, politicians and officials alike, of how intelligence needs to be handled."
He added he was confident his service had implemented the recommendations of Butler's report, which urged steps to ensure "effective scrutiny and validation of human intelligence sources" and to make sure this was properly resourced.
On terrorism, Sawers said Al Qaida was unlikely to achieve its goals of weakening western power and toppling moderate Arab governments. But the threat of "Islamic terrorism" was unlikely to fade away soon and reading reports of what militants were plotting was the most draining part of his job.
"Working to tackle terrorism overseas is complex, often dangerous. Our agents and sometimes our staff risk their lives."
Sawers said that over time the emergence of more open and responsive government in the Islamic world would "help" counter terrorism but insisting on a sudden move in that direction might make things worse.
"If we demand an abrupt move to the pluralism that we in the West enjoy ... the terrorists would end up with new opportunities," he said.
The former Bush administration often argued that terrorist organisations and their alleged state sponsors were the main opponents of democracy in the Arab world.
But Arab civil society and human rights groups say that governments friendly towards the United States are some of the most determined obstacles to democracy, repressing peaceful Islamist groups which seek power through democratic elections.
