Director General opens spying exhibition (9 February 2007)

The Security Service's Director General, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, was recently given the opportunity to support the Science Museum's latest educational project, an exciting new exhibition called 'The Science of Spying'.

Welcome to the Security Service website. Here, you will find information on the various threats which the UK currently faces, and which the Government and the Security Service are working to counter.

The major threat which the UK faces today is from international terrorism. Groups inspired by or with links to Al Qaida are intent on causing indiscriminate injury to all communities in the UK, and seek to jeopardise our way of life. Events in the last 3 years have shown that this threat is real, serious and deadly.

However, international terrorism is not the only challenge we face. we must also protect our national security from foreign powers seeking our military, political and economic information for their own advantage. The security of many nations, not just the UK, is physically threatened by those seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Dame Eliza visited the museum yesterday (Thursday 8 February) to formally open the exhibition. Dame Eliza said:

"I was delighted to be invited to open the 'Science of Spying' exhibition. The entertaining programme of exhibits and activities introduces children and parents to some important issues facing our society in the 21st century. Some of the themes of the exhibition are at the forefront of the current work of the Security Service (MI5).

"Visitors are invited to weigh the apparently incompatible demands of privacy and security, as officers of my Service do on a daily basis. You will have the opportunity to think about what developments in technology mean for the verification or falsification of identity. The exhibition is a stimulating and highly enjoyable experience and I invite you all to discover for yourselves the 'Science of Spying'."

The exhibition offers children and adults the chance to try out for themselves some of the activities that make up modern-day spying. Visitors get to role-play as a trainee spy, using the latest technologies and going on a 'secret undercover mission'. They also get to experience what it is like to be spied upon and are offered a glimpse of the future of surveillance technology.

The exhibition manages to address a number of serious issues surrounding the use of surveillance. Visitors will be invited to think about some of the dilemmas facing a modern-day spy.

The Science of Spying launches at the Science Museum (new window) on 10 February 2007.