Director General MI5 Statement

Published date: 16 Jul 2026

In a statement following the publication of the IPCO report on the Investigation into the provision of false evidence to the High Court and the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in relation to Agent X,  MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum said:

"MI5 recognises without hesitation the seriousness of our failings in these proceedings. I repeat my previous apologies to both courts for the incorrect evidence that was provided, and for our slowness in recognising what had happened. I also repeat my apology to Beth, who suffered additional distress as a consequence of what MI5 got wrong in the course of responding to her serious claims.

With legal proceedings still in train, I cannot comment today on specific details. However, I can say that over the last 18 months MI5 has done much to improve our policies and processes, to ensure we never find ourselves in this position again.  We have strengthened our record-keeping processes. We have updated the way in which we provide evidence in legal proceedings. With valuable input from independent experts, we have updated our policies and training on how we identify and respond to information suggesting individuals might be at risk of harm. We will use today's extensive and detailed report to target our further improvement efforts. 

The people of MI5 work day and night to keep this country safe. We get much right. In this instance we fell well short of what the public expect and deserve. The best response MI5 can make is to ensure we are consistently hitting the highest professional standards in delivering our vital mission. I know that the Home Secretary, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner and the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament will, rightly, continue to hold us to account.”