Intel gathering

An inside look at where, why, and how the UK spies

As I noted on Thursday, Britain's top security priority is countering Islamic terrorist threats. Yet the world is big and British spy agencies also have other top concerns.

In its 2016-2017 report released before Christmas, Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee gave us a window into just what those priorities are.

First up, Russia.

While the ISC hints, positively, that MI5 (the U.K.'s domestic-focus spy agency) has a strong awareness of Russian intelligence operations in Britain, it does not bother to mention the costs of that Russian presence. That's a problem because Britain's central challenge with Russian intelligence is not that it doesn't know what the Russians are doing, but that it allows them to do it.

This acquiescence flows from a U.K. political decision to allow pernicious Russian crime and intelligence influences on its soil in return for billions of pounds in Russian spending in London's economy. Only recently did Prime Minister Theresa May outlineplans to take a less amenable stance here.

Still, the ISC does carry some tough language towards the Kremlin. It notes the assessment of MI6 (the U.K.'s foreign-focus spy agency) "that Russia is to all intents and purposes in conflict with Ukraine."