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Britain's Spy Agencies Expecting Increase in Recruits After UK Terror Attacks

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Spy centers in the UK are preparing for a huge increase in job applications, following the recent terrorist attacks in London and Manchester.

UK's intelligence agencies, MI6, MI5 and GCHQ, are hoping that prospective spies will sign up and that a new wave of recruits will join their ranks as they look to expand.

This is not the first time however, when there has been an increase in applications after a terror attack. 

© REUTERS / Peter NichollsThames House, the headquarters of the British Security Service (MI5) is seen in London, Britain October 22, 2015
Thames House, the headquarters of the British Security Service (MI5) is seen in London, Britain October 22, 2015 - Sputnik International
Thames House, the headquarters of the British Security Service (MI5) is seen in London, Britain October 22, 2015

When the Twin Towers were struck on September 11, hundreds of people rushed to join spy agencies in the US. As a result UK spies are hoping for a similar outcome.

According to sources, the agencies are looking to expand by employing 1,900 new spies and analysts by 2020, with MI6, Britain's external security agency, getting the lion's share with 1,000.

The agency is hoping to bring in more ethnic and female recruits in a bid to diversify, with new arrivals boosting personnel from 2,500 to 3,500 by 2020.

​However according to experts, whoever wins the general election on June 8, expansion in the intelligence sector will be a key item to address.

The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has told reporters that his party would look to increase staffing levels at security and intelligence centers.

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Following the recent attacks many commentators and experts have pointed to the need for more police and intelligence personnel to defend against terrorist threats.

GCHQ's expansion follows a cyberattack on the National Health Service (NHS) in May, in which hackers broke into systems and then demanded cash in return for not deleting key information.

The former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott warned that intelligence agencies were focusing on the wrong things.

"We saw recently that the government's cybersecurity strategy is primarily an offensive one, neglecting our own defenses and only narrowly avoiding disaster for the NHS," Ms. Abbott wrote in an opinion piece for the Guardian in May.

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