London (TIP): China, Russia, Iran and international terrorism form the “big four” set of security threats in an era of dramatic change, Britain’s chief spy said in a rare public speech on December 1.

Richard Moore, who is the head of the UK’s foreign intelligence service MI6 and codenamed “C” as depicted in James Bond films, said countries such as China were using “debt traps, data exposure” to erode sovereignty and democracy. In his first public speech since taking charge last year, the spy chief explained that it was the changing nature of the threats requiring a greater degree of openness that prompted him to make the rare address entitled “Human Intelligence in a Digital Age” at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank in London.

“There are elements of continuity, Russia, China and Iran, for instance, have long been three of what I might informally call the ‘big four’ priorities within the intelligence community; the fourth being the threat from international terrorism,” said Moore. “But mostly, we are living through an era of dramatic change in the security landscape. We have to defend ourselves against a growing threat from state actors,” he said. — PTI