(1) A Spotlight On Andrew Parker. 
(2) Andrew Parker was born in 1962. The specific date is unknown.
(3) Parker is the 17th Director General of the Security Service, also known as MI5.
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(6) He graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in natural sciences.
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(12) Parker has worked in roles relating to national security and intelligence work in MI5, having been an employee of the intelligence agency for 30 years.
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(13) He has handled international terrorism; counter-espionage; Northern Ireland terrorism; serious and organised crime; protective security; and policy and strategic planning.
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(15) He acted as a liaison for MI5 with both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency.
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(16) In 1999, Parker left MI5 on a secondment to HM Customs & Excise as Director Intelligence.
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(17) In 2002, he rejoined MI5 as the Director For Northern Ireland Terrorism, Protective Security and Serious Crime.
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(18) In February 2005, Parker was moved to become Director of International Terrorism.
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(19) On July 7, 2005, the 7/7 London bombings were carried out by four Islamic terrorists, leading to the deaths of 52 people and 700 injured.
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(20) Parker led the effort in response to the terrorist attack in London. This led to a greater network of connections and advancements in counter-terrorism procedures.
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(21) However, the response effort led by Parker and MI5 was criticised due their failure in tracking Mohammad Sidique Khan, who was already known to intelligence agencies.
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(22) Both he and MI5 were exonerated by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.
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(23) Parker noted that, after the 7/7 bombings, the British Government worked more closely with the intelligence communities, providing more funds for better defence.
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(24) In 2006, Parker's team led a key role in the disruption of al-Qaeda's attempt to attack multiple airliners with bombs hidden in drink bottles.
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(25) Al-Qaeda were attempting to blow up ten passenger jets flying from the United Kingdom to both the United States and to Canada using liquid explosives.
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(26) Parker ordered MI5 to place surveillance equipment after secretly entering the home of one of the suspects, a British Pakistani.
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(27) The terrorist plot was halted with the arrest of 24 suspects after they had been monitored for an entire year.
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(28) This was shortly before their suicide attack plans were moving into their final stages, preventing dozens if not hundreds of deaths.
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(29) Because of these types of incidents, Parker developed a particular expertise in handling Islamic fundamentalism.
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(30) In April 2007, Parker was appointed the Deputy Director General of the Security Services.
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(31) He was promoted directly due to his efforts in handling the attempted passenger jet bombings.
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(32) In 2011, Parker participated in a case named Operation Examine, which prevented 11 individuals from racking up a death total greater than the 7/7 bombings.
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(33) The terrorists were funding their plot through fundraising under the guide of genuine Muslim charities during Ramadan, having manipulated Muslim Aid and a local mosque into providing them funds.
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(34) Operation Examine was created and quickly became a 450-person counter-terror unit to investigate all involved in the plot.
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(35) On September 18, 2011, every terrorist was arrested and Operation Examine was a success, saving countless lives.
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(36) In 2012, Parker participated in handling counter-terrorism to prevent al-Qaeda and other terrorist organisations from hitting the 2012 London Olympics.
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(37) No actual attempts on the 2012 London Olympics were actually made, although threads were made. MI5 were prepared for it.
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(38) On March 28, 2013, Parker was announced as the new Director General of the Security Service.
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(39) On April 22, 2013, he officially succeeded Sir Jonathan Evans as the Director General.
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(40) Starting from his ascent to Director General until the present day, Parker and MI5 actively prevented 20 different terrorist plots that could have devastated the United Kingdom.
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(41) In June 2013, Parker was tasked with keeping the world leaders attending the 39th G8 summit in Northern Ireland safe from harm.
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(42) This included Stephen Harper (Canada), François Hollande (France), Angela Merkel (Germany), Enrico Letta (Italy), Shinzō Abe (Japan), Vladimir Putin (Russia), David Cameron (United Kingdom) and Barack Obama (United States).
(43) On October 8, 2013, Parker gave a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
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(44) In his speech, Parker warned that Edward Snowden's leaks allowed for extremists to become more evasive to law enforcement and more strategic in their attacks.
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(46) On November 7, 2013, Parker was questioned by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, alongside Sir Iain Lobban, the Director of GCHQ, and Sir John Sawers, the Chief of MI6.
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(47) It was the very first Open Evidence Session held by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.
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(48) It was, however, Parker's fourth visit in front of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.
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(49) He held regular meetings - 2 or 3 times a week - with the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, which was Theresa May at the time in 2013.
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(50) He was concerned with the increasing technology race and the advances in the Internet.
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(51) He was confident in MI5's abilities to prevent an Edward Snowden from arising within MI5.
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(52) He stated that MI5 does not partake in the torture or mistreatment of captured individuals.
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(53) He revealed that threat assessments are done internally by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), hosted within MI5.
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(54) He had developed a system of close collaboration with both Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) and the national CT police network.
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(55) He spoke about the increasing amounts of terrorism, specifically the parts originating from Syria.
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(56) For Northern Ireland, Parker and the MI5 were partnered with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
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(57) He noted that the number of terrorists in Northern Ireland was decreasing, as terrorists from years before were now being sentenced and charged.
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(58) He also mentioned that at least 10% of his work focused on foreign adversaries rather than domestic.
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(59) On November 8, 2013, Parker's name appeared in a Hacking Team e-mail released by WikiLeaks.
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(60) His name appeared in another Hacking Team e-mail on the same day.
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(62) On November 15, 2013, Parker's name appeared in the AKP Emails released by WikiLeaks.
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(63) On November 4, 2014, Parker spoke at the Atlantic Partnership in London.
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(64) Between September 2014 and September 2015, six different terrorist attacks were foiled by Parker's MI5, the highest amount of attacks in his career at that point.
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(65) On January 7, 2015, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi gunned down 12 people and injured 11 others in the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France.
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(66) Parker said the attack was a stark reminder of the increasing terrorism the United Kingdom faces, and he offered his French counterparts his full support.
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(67) On January 8, 2015, Parker warned people attending a meeting at Thames House that the Islamic State was actively plotting attacks in the United Kingdom.
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(68) He said that more than 600 British jihadis had travelled to Syria to assist the Islamic State.
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(69) He also said that, at that point, they had stopped three more United Kingdom terrorist plots in recent months.
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(71) On January 15, 2015, Parker's name was listed in a Hacking Team e-mail released by WikiLeaks in relation to his Thames House speech.
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(72) On April 14, 2015, Parker gave the keynote address at the 25th anniversary of the London Press Club Awards.
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(74) On September 17, 2015, Parker engaged in his first radio interview on Radio 4's Today with Mishal Hussain.
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(75) He discussed sharing similar fears as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, about terrorists becoming more difficult to ascertain and apprehend.
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(77) He warned people that MI5 were struggling to keep up with terrorists' online activities.
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(78) This led to ministers to prepare a change in legislation on electronic surveillance to assist MI5.
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(79) He stated that terrorism was the biggest threat to the United Kingdom in terms of national security.
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(80) He was also struggling with online data encryption, suggesting that the police and intelligence agencies could no longer obtain under legal warrant the communication of people they believed to be terrorists.
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(81) Part of this was due to MI5's communication materials were held abroad - usually in companies in the United States.
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(82) He was also concerned that social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter were not altering authorities about terrorism, child sex exploitation and other criminal activity.
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(83) He also told Mishal that being an agent in MI5 was nothing like James Bond.
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(84) As such, I am hereby considering my personal application to MI5 to be completely and utterly disregarded.
(85) Parker said that companies such as Facebook and Twitter have a duty to share information about their users with MI5.
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(86) He suggested that using strong encryption in applications should be ruled as illegal.
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(87) He said that encryption was preventing MI5 from gaining the proper legal warrants needed to stop people they believed to be terrorists.
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(88) On October 29, 2015, Parker delivered the annual Lord Mayor's Defence and Security Lecture in London, discussing the future and modernisation of MI5.
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(89) Connected to this speech was the draft of an Investigatory Powers bill to assist MI5, SIS and GCHQ.
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(90) The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 was accepted via Royal Assent on November 29, 2016, which turned the bill into an Act of Parliament.
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(91) On February 20, 2016, Parker met with Ruby Wax at MI5 Headquarters.
(92) On November 1, 2016, Parker interviewed with The Guardian to discuss the growing threat of Russia towards the United Kingdom.
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(93) Parker said that one of MI5's tasks was to prevent Russia from using cyber-attacks, propaganda and espionage to push their agenda.
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(94) He said that there were 3,000 violent Islamic extremists in the United Kingdom, most of whom were British.
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(95) He also announced that MI5 would grow in size from 4,000 to 5,000 officers over the course of five years due to an increased budget.
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(96) He was unconcerned about Brexit and its affect on UK-Europe intelligence relations.
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(98) Prior to the interview, he had announced an intention to hire people based on their appearance to assist with spy work.
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(99) Parker was also keeping an eye on terrorism in Northern Ireland still.
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(100) On May 22, 2007, Salman Ramadan Abedi detonated a home made bomb in a suicide attack at the Manchester Arena, killing 23 people and injuring 500.
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(101) Parker ordered MI5 to review how it handled intelligence on Salman Abedi, a person who was already familiar with intelligence agencies.
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(102) It became apparent that Salman Abedi was not under active investigation by MI5, although he was a part of the 20,000 people known with links to extremism.
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(103) On September 11, 2017, Parker met with the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray, to participate in The FBI Experience, a newly opened tour in the headquarters of the FBI.
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(104) On October 10, 2017 (roughly), Parker visited a joint operational centre in the Netherlands dedicated to defeating terrorism through information sharing.
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(105) He met with counterparts from 30 European security services as part of a collective known as the Counter Terrorism Group (CTG).
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(106) The Counter Terrorism Group operates separately to the European Union.
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(107) It has an intelligence database designed to avert Islamic terrorism, which went live on July 1, 2016, created in response to the Paris attacks on November 13, 2015.
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(108) On October 17, 2017, Parker delivered a speech to an audience in Central London, discussing international counter-terrorism and the continued terrorism threats in Northern Ireland.
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(109) Due to the rise of Islamic extremism, the terrorist threat in the United Kingdom was on the rise.
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(110) MI5 were running 500 concurrent counter-terror investigations.
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(112) At least 20,000 people were causes for concern, but cannot be monitored due to a lack of resources.
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(113) He noted that 130 Britons had travelled to Iraq and Syria to assist the Islamic State, and were then killed.
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(114) However, there were a total of 800 Britons that did the journey to team up with the Islamic State, and some are fighting with them today.
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(115) He warned that the defeat of the Islamic State in the Middle East would lead to increased terrorism in the United Kingdom, as British jihadists would return home...
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(117) The returning Islamic State fighters were then given council homes in the United Kingdom.
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(118) While Parker and MI5 have access to surveillance, they receive fragments of information about each individual and must attempt to prioritise and assemble an idea of what a suspect may do in the future.
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(119) Because of the string of terrorist attacks in 2017, the Home Office began questioning Parker and MI5's effectiveness in handling terrorism.
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(120) Parker was still facing issues with terrorism and child exploitation, and called on technology giants such as Facebook and Amazon to assist more effectively.
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(121) He noted that France, Belgium, Germany and Spain were also facing similar rising threats in Islamic extremism.
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(123) On November 21, 2017, Parker met with Senator Orrin Hatch while he was visiting the United Kingdom.
(124) On December 5, 2017, Parker briefed senior ministers in the British Government and informed them that nine terrorist plots had been stopped in the United Kingdom within the last twelve months.
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(125) Which is a lot for one year.
(126) End of thread.
