Standing before the iconic green-tinted windows of MI6 headquarters on the Thames, Blaise Metreweli delivered her first public address as chief of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service with a message that was as urgent as it was historic. On December 15, 2025, Metreweli, who made history as the first woman to lead MI6, warned that the agency now operates in a “space between peace and war”—a perilous frontier shaped by Russian aggression, rapidly advancing technology, and the erosion of public trust.
According to the BBC, Metreweli’s speech marked a watershed moment for British intelligence. She emphasized that Russia’s tactics have moved beyond traditional espionage, describing a “grey zone” where drone surveillance over airports and air bases, cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, and disinformation campaigns are all deployed just below the threshold of open warfare. “Russia is testing us in the grey zone with tactics that are just below the threshold of war,” she declared, underscoring the multifaceted threat posed by an “aggressive, expansionist and revisionist Russia.”
But Metreweli’s warnings extended far beyond the Kremlin’s playbook. As reported by the Daily Mail, she described a new era of information warfare where “algorithms and tech bosses will become more powerful than states.” The MI6 chief cautioned that the very foundations of trust in society are under siege. “Information, once a unifying force, is increasingly weaponised. Falsehood spreads faster than fact, dividing communities and distorting reality. The algorithms flatter our biases and fracture our public squares. As trust collapses, so does our shared sense of truth—one of the greatest losses a society can suffer.”
Metreweli’s remarks reflected a growing concern that the battle for truth and trust is no longer fought solely between nations but also between citizens and the technologies that shape their perceptions. She warned, “We need to ensure our children don’t get duped by information manipulation and algorithms that trigger fear.” In a world where data tracking and filtering can “become a new vector for conflict and control,” she singled out tech moguls like Elon Musk as examples of individuals whose influence may rival that of governments.
“Power itself is becoming more diffuse, more unpredictable as control over these technologies is shifting from states to corporations, and sometimes to individuals,” Metreweli explained. “The defining challenge of the 21st century is not simply who wields the most powerful technologies, but who guides them with the greatest wisdom.”
Her speech, delivered from the eighth-floor dining room immortalized in the James Bond film Skyfall, was unusually personal for a figure known for operating in the shadows. Metreweli referenced her own family’s history, shaped by devastating conflict, and expressed a deep gratitude for the UK’s democracy and freedoms. She pledged to make MI6 more open, continuing a trajectory of public engagement that includes initiatives like Silent Courier—a dark web portal launched in September for secure communication with foreign informants.
The Register highlighted Metreweli’s vision for a technology-augmented intelligence service. She called on MI6 officers to master not only traditional tradecraft but also advanced programming skills. “We will become as comfortable with lines of [computer] code as we are with human sources, as fluent in Python as we are in multiple languages,” she said, referencing the need for fluency in the programming language Python alongside Russian and other foreign tongues. Recruitment, she noted, will increasingly target linguists, data scientists, engineers, and technologists alike.
Yet, Metreweli was careful to stress that technology should never eclipse human judgement. “Information requires judgement; complexity demands clarity; and only people can decide which path to follow,” she asserted. Artificial intelligence, she argued, will “augment, not replace, our human skills.” This conviction reflects her own background: Metreweli joined MI6 in 1999, rising through the ranks via the agency’s technology and innovation division—familiarly known as Q Branch, after the gadget-filled laboratory in Ian Fleming’s spy novels.
Her focus on Russia remained pointed throughout the address. As Sky News reported, Metreweli described the “export of chaos” as a deliberate feature of Russian international engagement. Recent Western sanctions have damaged Russia’s economy, pushing its exports eastward toward China and India, but have failed to alter President Vladimir Putin’s determination to continue the war in Ukraine. “It’s important to understand their attempts to bully, fearmonger and manipulate, because it affects us all,” Metreweli said, referencing Russian cyberattacks, drone activity, and propaganda operations.
She accused Putin of “dragging out negotiations” over the war in Ukraine, using grey zone tactics and “state-sponsored arson and sabotage,” as well as spreading “poisonous propaganda which seeks to crack open and exploit fractures within societies.” The MI6 chief insisted that the UK must maintain pressure on Putin to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and security.
Metreweli’s address also touched on the broader implications of technological change for the intelligence community. She cited the convergence of artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and quantum computing as forces “rewriting the reality of conflict,” with the potential to create “science fiction-like tools.” Such advances, she warned, mean that MI6 must infuse technology and an understanding of its risks and opportunities into every aspect of its operations. “Responding to the threat Russia poses will involve infusing technology and an understanding of technology into everything MI6 does,” she explained.
Her speech was also a call to arms for society at large. Countering disinformation, she argued, requires efforts beyond the intelligence services. “Teaching children to evaluate sources and recognize manipulative algorithms that trigger intense reactions, like fear,” is a responsibility that must be shared across communities, schools, and families.
As Metreweli concluded her remarks, she painted a picture of a world “more dangerous and contested now than for decades.” The contest, she said, stretches “from sea to space, from the battleground to the boardroom, and even our brains as disinformation manipulates our understanding of each other and ourselves.”
In her first public outing as MI6 chief, Blaise Metreweli set out a vision for British intelligence that is at once deeply traditional and sharply modern. Her message was clear: in an era where power is shifting, technology is accelerating, and truth itself is under attack, the future of MI6—and of national security—will depend on mastering both human and technological skills, and on defending not just territory, but the very fabric of trust and understanding in society.
