Director General of the Security Service (MI5) Ken McCallum
Biography
Ken McCallum is the Director General of the Security Service (also known as MI5).
He is an MI5 officer with more than 25 years of experience across the full spectrum of the organisation’s national security and intelligence work.
Career
His first ten years were focussed on Northern Ireland-related terrorism. Senior operational roles in countering Islamist extremist terrorism followed, as well as a period leading MI5’s early cyber security work, where he expanded the organisation’s engagement with the private sector.
In 2012, Ken took charge of all counter-terrorism investigations and risk management in the run-up to, and during, the London Olympics.
After the games, he embarked on a secondment at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills leading on digital issues, building his experience beyond the national security domain. Following his return to MI5 he retained links to the wider public sector, serving for three years as a non-executive director on the board of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
In 2015, Ken took on the role of Director General of Strategy in MI5, focussing on shaping new legislation, MI5’s finances and further deepening partnerships with the UK’s other intelligence agencies, SIS and GCHQ.
Ken was appointed Deputy Director General of MI5 in 2017, with responsibility for all MI5’s operational and investigative work.
Ken led MI5’s strategic response to the 2017 terrorist attacks and to the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal in 2018.
Ken was appointed Director General in April 2020.
Personal life
Ken grew up in Glasgow, and holds a degree in Mathematics from the University of Glasgow.
Outside of work, his time is filled by a busy and active family life.
Director General of the Security Service (MI5)
The Director General leads the Security Service (known as MI5) and is responsible for:
- the operations and efficiency of MI5
- making an annual report to the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister on the work of MI5
The Director General is also responsible for making sure that MI5:
- is politically impartial
- gets hold of and releases information only in accordance with statutory responsibilities and to prevent or detect serious crime
- uses methods of investigation which are proportionate to the threat and properly authorised