Former MI6 chief: UK “infantilised” by US security guarantee | The Economist

We've been. huge beneficiaries. of an incredibly. generous. security guarantee. from the United States. over decades. But my strong view is. is that we’ve. actually been. infantilised by it. We have. been prepared. to outsource. the most fundamental. duty of government, which is security, to another nation. Now they're close. allies of ours. but they don't have. identical objectives. So in some ways. this is a bit timely. I don't think. we should hasten. or encourage people. in America. who want to draw down.

or reduce. their commitment. to the most. successful alliance. in history, which is NATO. But at the same time, I think this is. the moment. where we actually. amend our relationship. with hard power. and understand. that without that. we’re just going. to be prey. to other people's. ambitions, really. And so that. is overdue. So in some ways. this is. a good opportunity. And we haven't. talked about. Ukraine yet. but, of course, this is the other. big galvaniser. This is the time.

where Britain and Europe. needs to. regain its capacity. to develop. and exercise. hard power. And here's the rub, I actually. think we'll have. a better relationship. with America. once we do that. I think getting that. transition right. is very hard, particularly in areas. like intelligence. It's not clear. how easy it is. and how affordable. it is. to hedge against this. and to. build alternatives. How do you go about. doing that? With regards to the. relationship with America, to me, it was. pretty clear. Of course, we've got. decades of.

working together. where there’s strong. personal relationships. But in the end it was. about being useful. And I don't think. I was under. any illusion about what. that relationship. would be like. if we were not useful. So it doesn't. alter the mission. from a UK. intelligence perspective: be good and be useful. And that's. objectively what we. want to achieve, in any case.