UK Government Considers New Foreign Agents Registration Act

On 21 July 2020, the UK Intelligence and Security Committee (the “Committee”) published a long-awaited report regarding evidence of Russian threats against the United Kingdom. In addition to setting out the nature and extent of what the Committee considered to be hostile activities on the part of operatives with ties to Russia, the report addressed the powers and tools available to the UK intelligence community to respond to such activities, and noted that “current legislation enabling action against foreign spies is acknowledged to be weak”.