Since political debates tend to pursue current "hot topics" of interest to constituents, and not typically the down-the-road issues until they become crises, is it not indeed necessary that the UK (and other representative democracies) government agencies immediately concerned with foreign affairs and national security threats external to the homelands pursue these activities? Does your research include such concerns?

In the USA, we failed to prevent or delay major catastrophic events such as the al-Qaida attacks on Sept 11, 2001 because we deliberately refused to take early action against known threat actors because it was not of immediate political concern. While I do not advocate for global 'occupation' or manipulation, there must be a middle ground somewhere between that and ignoring threats while politicians chase their policy tails.