The UK’s domestic intelligence agency MI5’s Director General has issued a profound apology for failing to prevent the 2017’s deadly suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
Speaking on behalf of MI5, Ken McCallum expressed deep regret and acknowledged that gathering covert intelligence is challenging. However, he emphasized that MI5 had missed a “significant” opportunity to prevent the attack and that the agency should have done more to obtain the necessary intelligence.
“Those impacted might not have experienced such appalling loss and trauma. I am profoundly sorry that MI5 did not prevent the attack,” McCallum said.
The apology follows a inquiry by John Saunders which found that MI5 made several errors in handling Abedi’s intelligence. The inquiry also concluded that MI5 had failed to assess Abedi as a threat and missed opportunities to prevent the attack.
