On December 15, 2025, the usually secretive halls of MI6 headquarters in London became the stage for a rare and remarkably candid address. Blaise Metreweli, the newly appointed chief of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, delivered her first public speech—a moment that drew attention not just for its content, but for the history she represents as the first woman to lead MI6. Her remarks, delivered with the poise of a seasoned operative, signaled a new era of concern: the shifting of global power from nation-states to the world’s technology giants.
Metreweli didn’t mince words. 22Our world is being actively remade with profound implications for national and international security,22 she declared, according to The Paper. 22Power itself is becoming more diffuse, more unpredictable as control over these technologies is shifting from states to corporations and sometimes to individuals.22 The warning was clear—there’s a tectonic shift underway, and Britain’s top spy wants everyone to pay attention.
Her speech came at a moment when anxieties about the influence of tech billionaires are running high in the UK. Just a few months earlier, in September 2025, Elon Musk had publicly called for the overthrow of the UK government at a far-right rally, as reported by Futurism. The incident rattled politicians, especially those in the ruling Labour party, who’ve grown increasingly frustrated with what they see as meddling from Silicon Valley’s most powerful figures. Yet, Metreweli—perhaps mindful of her diplomatic role—stopped short of naming names, choosing instead to focus on the broader phenomenon: the rise of tech corporations as global power brokers.
She painted a picture of a world in flux, where the boundaries between peace and war are blurring. 22We’re now operating in a space between peace and war. This is not a temporary state or a gradual, inevitable evolution,22 Metreweli cautioned. The implication? The old playbook for national security is quickly becoming obsolete.
Metreweli’s perspective is shaped by a lifetime spent at the intersection of geopolitics and intelligence. Raised amid the privilege of British-occupied Hong Kong, she attended elite private schools before embarking on a career that took her from the economic corridors of Dubai to the front lines of British and American operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her official title at one point—Second Secretary for Economic Affairs at the Foreign Office—barely hints at the depth of her experience navigating the murky waters of international power games. According to The Times, she was also MI6’s Director General ‘Q’ before becoming chief, overseeing technology and innovation, a role made famous by the gadget master in James Bond films.
In her speech, Metreweli argued that the 22defining challenge22 of the 21st century isn’t simply which nation wields the most powerful technologies, but who uses them with the greatest wisdom. 22Our security, our prosperity, and our humanity depend on it,22 she said, as reported by the Evening Standard. 22It is not what we can do that defines us, but what we choose to do. That choice, the exercise of human agency, has shaped our world before, and it will shape it again.22
But wisdom alone isn’t enough. Metreweli laid out a sobering list of threats facing Britain: hybrid warfare, terrorism, cyber attacks, and the manipulation of information. She singled out Russia as a particularly acute danger. 22Putin should be in no doubt, our support is enduring. The export of chaos is a feature not a bug in the Russian approach to international engagement, and we should be ready for this to continue until Putin is forced to change his calculus,22 she asserted, underscoring the UK’s steadfast support for Ukraine.
The Russian leadership, Metreweli explained, is determined to 22challenge, limit, divide and ultimately destroy NATO.22 This warning was echoed by Britain’s top soldier at the Royal United Services Institute, who called for a 22whole nation22 response to the threats posed by the Ukraine war. 22The war in Ukraine shows Putin’s willingness to target neighbouring states, including their civilian populations, potentially with such novel and destructive weapons, threatens the whole of NATO, including the UK,22 he said, according to the Evening Standard.
Yet, for all the talk of external threats, Metreweli’s speech circled back to the dangers lurking within Western societies themselves. She pointed to the 22erosion of trust in our societies,22 warning that information—once a unifying force—has become weaponized. 22Falsehoods spread faster than fact, dividing communities and distorting reality. We live in an age of hyper-connection yet profound isolation. The algorithms flatter our biases and fracture our public squares,22 she lamented. These words, reported by Futurism, speak to the heart of a modern dilemma: technology’s power to both connect and divide.
Metreweli’s solution is as much about mindset as machinery. 22Mastery of technology must infuse everything we do,22 she said. 22Not just in our labs, but in the field, in our tradecraft, and even more importantly, in the mindset of every officer. We must be as comfortable with lines of code as we are with human sources, as fluent in Python as we are in multiple languages.22 It’s a call to arms for a new generation of spies—one as adept with algorithms as with aliases.
But there’s a paradox at the heart of Metreweli’s message. While she warns of the dangers posed by tech monopolies, her own career—and indeed the legacy of MI6—has been deeply entwined with the exercise of power by Western states and their corporate allies. Since World War II, British covert operatives have executed 42 coup attempts in 27 countries, often in pursuit of economic or political outcomes favorable to Britain, according to Futurism. The very structures that enabled Western corporations to dominate global markets are now being challenged by a new breed of tech titans.
Metreweli’s speech, then, is as much a defense of the traditional state’s prerogative to wield power as it is a critique of Silicon Valley’s ascendancy. Her refrain is unmistakable: power should be ours to wield, not theirs. Yet, as the front line stretches into cyberspace and the public square is redefined by algorithms, the question remains—can the old guardians of order keep pace with the forces they helped unleash?
For now, Metreweli is betting on partnerships with allies, cutting-edge technology, and the enduring wisdom of human agency. Whether that will be enough to meet the diffuse, unpredictable threats of the 21st century is a challenge she’s thrown down for both her agency and the nation at large.
As Britain reckons with a world where power is up for grabs, the MI6 chief’s warning rings out: the future will be shaped not just by those who hold the tools, but by those who use them wisely—and for whose benefit.
