Security professionals urged to be aware of state actor threats

The security minister has urged security professionals who offer specialist services to remain vigilant and question who their clients are. This is to ensure that they are not being tasked by foreign powers to carry out damaging activity against the UK.

The call comes as new guidanceis published by the Home Office to support professionals within the security industry when they are approached for work, to check they are not assisting state actors looking to undertake malign activity which would harm or threaten the safety or interests of the UK - or may result in them committing a criminal offence themselves.

'Complying with the National Security Act 2023: security professionals' includes resources, scenarios and questions to consider and is designed to help security professionals understand the law and give them the tools and confidence to carry out necessary due diligence checks to establish if their client is a foreign state, or a body linked to a state, seeking to carry out damaging activity against the UK.

Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: "Working in private security is vital, but foreign states are increasingly looking to the industry as a tool to carry out their dirty work – to degrade our security, undermine our values and damage our livelihoods.

"I urge security professionals to take caution to protect the UK and themselves by fully checking and understanding who they are working for. If they don’t, they seriously risk breaking the law and aiding states who seek nothing more than to harm this country and who have no concern for the individuals they employ.

"The threats malign actors pose to our country are expanding, in scale and scope. We must adapt with them, and the private security sector has a pivotal role to play in shutting them out of the UK, to which I thank them."

Security professionals are also being called on to report any instance where they suspect the involvement of a state.

Those in the security industry are reminded that they are re attractive targets for foreign powers to act as their proxies due to their specialist skillsets and their line of work often giving them access to valuable information.