The Coming War Won’t Be with Tanks and Guns

Much of it will be inside your head

foreign office main building Home of MI6 — image from gov.uk

The British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, has a new boss.

Blaise Metreweli has been a career intelligence officer for nearly 30 years and has risen to become the new “C.” She’s the first woman in MI6’s history to become its Chief.

(In the James Bond movies, she would be “M,” but the first Chief was Admiral Mansfield Cumming, and his “C” initial has stuck.) As an introduction, she recently stated:

“Over nearly three decades, my career has involved recruiting and running agents in hostile territory, and leading operations in warzones to defuse threats and support peace. Always in teams, always learning from others.”

On December 15, 2025, in a speech to MI6 agents and reporters, “C” laid down the global issues facing the UK in particular, but all democracies in general.

And she didn’t mince words.

“We are now operating in a space between peace and war,” she said.

“Our world is being remade, and for the first time, we are all at the heart of it. The greatest danger we face is misunderstanding the nature of the problem.”

“Let’s be in no doubt. Our world is more dangerous and contested now than it has been for decades.

“Across the globe, we are now confronting not one single danger,” she pointed out, “but an interlocking web of security challenges — military, technological, social, ethical, even, each shaping the other in complex ways.

“…even our brains, as disinformation manipulates our understanding of each other and ourselves.”

“Power itself is becoming more diffuse, more unpredictable as control over these technologies is shifting from states to corporations, and sometimes to individuals.”

I immediately thought of Elon Musk and his Starlink communication satellites, which are used by the military and police, as well as by civilian internet services. In July 2022, during an advance by Ukrainian troops, Musk shut down Starlink, leaving Ukrainian soldiers unable to coordinate their movements. Musk intentionally shut off the Starlink coverage over a battlefield during a war.

The action allowed Musk to take “the outcome of a war into his own hands,” according to one observer.

“Advances in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and quantum computing are not only revolutionizing economies but rewriting the reality of conflict, as they ‘converge’ to create science-fiction-like tools,”

— Metreweli continued.

The “science-fiction-like tools” include AI-powered robots and drones,

“… brilliant for scaled manufacturing but devastating on the battlefield.”

Hyper-personalized psychological weapons, powered by AI, are being developed. In addition, she warned that “Discoveries that cure disease can also create new weapons.”

The Chief sees Putin’s Russia as a primary threat.

“Alongside the grinding (Ukraine) war, Russia is testing us in the grey zone with tactics that are just below the threshold of war. It’s important to understand their attempts to bully, fear-monger, and manipulate, because they affect us all.

I am talking about:

Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.

Drones buzzing airports and bases.

Aggressive activity in our seas, above and below the waves.

State-sponsored arson and sabotage.

Propaganda and influence operations that crack open and exploit fractures within societies.”

The rest of Europe, as well as Canada, is joining the UK in mobilizing its defenses. Billions of dollars, Euros, and pounds are being spent on modernizing air defense systems, cybersecurity, and military training. In some cases, conscription is now being used to enhance European armies.

“The export of chaos is a feature, not a bug, in this Russian approach to international engagement, and we should be ready for this to continue until Putin is forced to change his calculus.”

The greatest danger, she noted, is the manipulation of information, and that must be fought on all fronts.

“That includes work taking place in schools across the country, so our children don’t get duped by information manipulation. Let’s all check sources, consider evidence, and be alive to those algorithms that trigger intense reactions, like fear.”

In her concluding remarks, Metreweli told her audience that, even with advanced technological tools, like AI,

“What will always matter most is the human element — the person who stands in the shadows and says: this is right, and that is wrong.”

I noted that, during her entire speech, she did not mention the existential threat of a kakistocracy with nuclear capabilities, a madman at its helm, sliding into fascism just across the pond.

She may be saving that briefing for a less public outing.

References:

1. Gov.UK website, speech by Blaise Metreweli. From:

Secret Intelligence Service, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Published 15 December 2025

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/speech-by-blaise-metreweli-chief-of-sis-15-december-2025

accessed 20 December 2025

2. Joey Roulette, Cassell Bryan-Low, and Tom Balmforth, July 25, 2025, A REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT accessed 20 December 2025

Musk ordered the shutdown of Starlink satellite service as Ukraine retook territory from Russia

Soldiers panicked, and drones surveilling Russian forces went dark.

3. Blundell, Dean, Substack, December 12, 2025, BREAKING: Canada Just Launched a 300,000-Person Civilian Army. Ask Yourself Why.

Accessed 20 December 2025