The deputy chief of MI5, who led the investigation which foiled an al-Qa’ida plot to blow up transatlantic airliners, has been appointed the new head of the service. Andrew Parker will replace the current director-general, Sir Jonathan Evans, who is stepping down next month.

The home security agency, MI5, has taken the unusual step of issuing a public warning after fraudsters pretending to be the service’s head attempted to obtain money from people.

The Government faced further embarrassment after it emerged that a suspected British extremist on the run after eluding a multi-million pound MI5 and police surveillance operation is a serial breaker of anti-terror orders that had seen him previously jailed for 15 months.

The bloody upheavals of the Arab Spring have handed a great boost to al-Qa'ida, providing it with fertile ground to reorganise and opportunities for British extremists to undergo terrorist training for attacks at home and abroad, the head of MI5 has warned.

Britons are increasingly heading to the Middle East for terrorist training in preparation for attacks in the wake of the Arab Spring, the head of MI5 has said.

The Security Service MI5 has been named on a list of Britain's most gay-friendly employers for the first time.

Video reports of al-Shabaab battles with Somali forces feature jihadist with London accent

Yesterday was a good day to slip out the news that David Cameron's chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, is one of three special advisers working in Downing Street on a salary of £140,000 a year.

The heads of MI5 and MI6 are to be asked to give evidence in public at an inquiry into the alleged torture of British terrorist suspects.

The discovery of Osama bin Laden's hideaway in a city at the heart of Pakistan's military establishment today revived questions about alleged links between al-Qa’ida and elements in the country's security forces.

For 29 MPs, opposition to scrapping the first-past-the-post voting system is a matter of raw political survival, an analysis by The Independent has found.

Strong waves of anger and fear swept through Northern Irish politics and society after a young policeman was killed in a dissident republican bomb attack – evidence of their growing proficiency in creating such traps.

MI5 could have identified one of the July 7 bombers four months before the attacks on London had it acted upon new intelligence.

The security services missed an opportunity to identify the ringleader of the 7/7 terrorist attacks because a surveillance photograph of him which could have been shown to an overseas source was poorly copied.