'We're not winning war on terror'

Britain's spies are failing to win the war on terrorism despite the introduction of improved surveillance equipment, a former head of MI5 said.

Dame Stella Rimington said the campaign to root out subversive groups relied more on face-to-face intelligence gathering than fancy technology.

"I certainly don't think at this stage we're winning it," she said when asked to assess the so-called war on terrorism being advanced by the US and British governments.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Western governments have invested heavily in securing borders, fortifying national infrastructure and intelligence gathering.

But the ex-spy chief said: "You can't fight a war against an '-ism.' It's a continuing struggle,"

She also expected Britain's intelligence-gathering tactics to undergo a review at the end of Lord Hutton's probe into the death of Government weapons adviser Dr David Kelly.

"One of the surprising things to me is the extent to which e-mail is used.

"With the use of e-mails, it appears, formal (meeting) minutes are no longer kept. What I would expect to see following the Hutton inquiry is a change in the way information is passed," she said.

Dame Stella, the head of MI5 from 1992 to 1996, was at an IT security conference in London.

Most watched News videos