told the bbc today. we do face a consistent global struggle to defeat extremism and to guard against terrorism. this is a real problem and in the last four years, for example, working with the police, my organisation has disrupted 31 late stage attack plots in great britain. a new counterterrorism operations centre was launched this summer by m15 and the police but the threats have also been changing. since 9/11, we have had a continued evolving, huge challenge with islamist extremist terrorism. we have the rise of extreme right wing terrorism and we have definitely a resurgence of sharp and complex state threats. the only major national security threat which has been comparatively better across those 20 years is northern ireland. the uk s terror threat level has fluctuated, spiking up around 2006 when al-qaeda plots were coming out of pakistan. and then again around a decade later, linked to isis in iraq and syria.
afghanistan is not an easy country to govern and within which to ensure perfect security. m15 may have expanded and we all may live with more surveillance and security, but asked if we were safer now than 20 years ago, the head of m15 said there was no simple answer. gordon corera, bbc news. lawyers acting for virginia giuffre, the woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by prince andrew, say he has been served with legal papers ahead of preliminary proceedings scheduled to take place in new york on monday. 0ur royal correspondent sarah campbell has more. these are the official legal papers relating to the civil case that was brought by virginia giuffre, and she alleges that she was sexually assaulted by prince andrew when she was 17 years old. he denies all the claims made against him and he said that he has no recollection of meeting her.
american influence here is fading. this is bush bazaar, named after the us president. the military gear on sale used to come from international troop bases. now it s largely chinese made imitation, to the disappointment of taliban fighters, now the main customers. 20 years of war have left a legacy that is increasingly unclear. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul. the head of britain s m15 says the threat of terrorism in the uk remains a real and enduring thing . ken mccallum reveaeld that 31 late stage attack plots had been foiled here in the last four years. and he warned that more sophisticated groups could reform once again. 0ur security correspondent gordon corera reports.
been comparatively better across those 20 years is northern ireland. the uk s terror threat level has fluctuated, spiking up around 2006 when al-qaeda plots were coming out of pakistan. and then again around a decade later, linked to isis in iraq and syria. but the hope was that it might now decline. m15 has been trying to focus on wider issues, like espionage and foreign interference, but the landscape has just changed once again drawing it back to worry more about jihadist terrorism. the concern is that the taliban takeover in afghanistan may both inspire extremists here and perhaps create a safe haven there for groups to plan more sophisticated attacks. there is no doubt that recent events in afghanistan will have heartened and emboldened some of those extremists. so, even if the taliban is absolutely in good faith about wanting to prevent terrorism being exported from afghanistan, that will be a difficult task to accomplish.
named after the us president. the military gear on sale used to come from international troop bases. now it s largely chinese made imitation, to the disappointment of taliban fighters, now the main customers. 20 years of war have left a legacy that is increasingly unclear. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul. the head of britain s m15 says the threat of terrorism in the uk remains a real and enduring thing . ken mccallum revealed that 31 late stage attack plots had been foiled here in the last four years. and he warned that more sophisticated groups could reform once again. 0ur security correspondent gordon corera reports. for 20 years, surveillance and security have become ever more entwined in our lives a sign of a threat that has not gone away, as the head of m15