The timing of the speech by the head of MI5, Andrew Parker may have looked cynical: a call for more surveillance powers for the intelligence agencies on Thursday, the day after the attack on Charlie Hebdo’s office. In fact, Parker had long planned this speech and almost all of it had been written, other than a few paragraphs, before the gruesome events unfurled in Paris.But the timing of the events was still lucky for MI5, the mass murder at the satirical magazine and in the streets outside brought home the reality of what the agency is up against.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/09/do-spy-agencies-need-more-surveillance-powersAlso see:In Britain, Spy Chief Calls for More Power for Agency
Britain’s domestic intelligence chief has demanded greater authority for spies to help fight the threat of Islamist extremism, a sign that the attack on a satirical newspaper in Paris is likely to sharpen the security-versus-privacy debate in Western countries.Andrew Parker, the director general of MI5, said militants were planning attacks in Britain similar to the one that killed 12 people at the newspaper, Charlie Hebdo.
www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/world/europe/britains-domestic-intelligence-chief-calls-for-greater-authority-for-spies.html