Thread by @declassifiedUK

Richard Moore has given his first speech as MI6 chief. It will be written up as puff pieces in tomorrow's national press.

Some observations from us in this thread.

gov.uk/government/new…

Moore said the MI6 chief giving a speech “is an important part of the way we hold ourselves to account”.

Far more important would be enabling the public to submit FOI requests on MI6, stop censoring MI6 records from national archives & being truly accountable to parliament.

Moore said what all security officials always say in every speech: threat to the UK are “growing” and our “adversaries” are “feeling emboldened”.

In other words, the security agencies need yet more public money. But the UK already has a deeply-embedded national security state.

Moore outlines “the ‘big four’ set of threats: China, Russia, Iran and international terrorism”.

These are traditional threats outlined by the UK elite: they are not those identified by the UK public, who were never asked. In whose interest are these the identified threats?

Moore said: “Everything we do is bound by UK law”.

This doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

declassifieduk.org/mi6-has-a-long…

Moore said: “I ask my officers to do things in their professional existence which they would not do in their private lives”.

Yes, we’ve noticed.

declassifieduk.org/tag/mi6/

Moore said: “A democratic society should only grant such powers to its most ethically literate citizens”.

But MI6 is almost completely unaccountable to democratically-elected officials & the public. How do we know MI6 hands such powers only to “ethically literate citizens”?

Moore said he wants “other countries” to be more aware of being vulnerable to a China “where there is no recourse to an independent judiciary or free press”.

Yet MI6 has its own special relationships with many states (eg Gulf dictatorships) just as repressive of media/judiciary

Moore stated the UK must stand up to Russian activity "which contravenes the rules-based international system”.

This is propaganda. MI6 knows full well there is no ‘rules-based international system’ and the UK violates international law as much/more than most other states.