The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) is the new chair of the international Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group (FELEG).
At the Annual Principal’s Meeting in San Diego in July, it was confirmed that the NCA will chair the group for the next two years, with NCA Director General Graeme Biggar formally accepting the role from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations Acting Director Todd Lyons.
This is the first time since 2015 that the NCA has chaired FELEG, and comes at a time when the threat from serious and organised crime continues to evolve.
The societal shift to living more of our lives online continues to be exploited by criminals. Technology is making it easier and more lucrative to commit offences across global jurisdictions, and year on year, the increases we have seen in child sexual abuse, drug trafficking and fraud are deeply concerning. Increasingly too all of these and other threats have an overseas element.
Therefore, the need for international collaboration to tackle and disrupt the threat we face from serious and organised crime has never been as important.
As chair for the next two years, the NCA will enhance the existing cooperation amongst partners, making the alliance even more operationally focused to deliver tangible results.
- We will continue to generate operational activity together by arresting those involved in serious and organised crime. We will share more data than ever before and we will use all the tools available to disrupt their activity;
- We will work towards enhancing our technological capabilities together; and
- We will engage with public and private bodies to encourage wider responsibility to help make the publics we serve safer
The evolving threat from the international ‘com networks’ will be one area where the group’s collective capabilities will be best utilised. ‘Com networks’ are a collection of sadistic and violent online gangs who are dedicated to inflicting harm and committing a range of criminal acts across multiple channels, including messaging apps, gaming platforms and other online forums.
Cybercrime, money laundering and the online sexual abuse of children will also be prioritised by the group.
FELEG, which is made up of domestic law enforcement agencies with an international reach, including the FBI, the DEA, HSI, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the New Zealand Police and the UK’s National Crime Agency, work together to share intelligence, conduct international operations and enhance tools and techniques to tackle the most serious criminal enterprises with a global footprint.
This year the UK’s Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) were also voted in as full members of the FELEG, a recognition that the intersection between serious and organised crime and other national security threats, including terrorism and hostile state activity, has become more pronounced globally.
CTP have acted as the FELEG’s principal advisors on counter terrorism since 2020, and at the recent Annual Principals Meeting in San Diego, the NCA successfully proposed to FELEG partners that promoting CTP to full membership of the group would strengthen their collective response to hybrid threats such as violence fixated individuals and ‘Com networks’.
Director General of the National Crime Agency, Graeme Biggar, said:
“We are proud to formally take over as FELEG chair this year, and will continue to bring together the collective power of international law enforcement to do all we can to protect the people we serve.
“We have a strong track record of doing this alongside our FELEG partners, including the NCA-led global takedown of ‘Lockbit’, the highest harm ransomware-as-a-service network, and the convictions of prolific online sex offenders who exploited and abused children across the world.
“Serious and organised crime groups do not respect borders. The harm they cause is felt in communities across the world. While firearms and drug offences play out on our streets, other crime types are taking place in dark corners online, such as encrypted platforms.
“Technology – and our everyday use of it – will continue to evolve. But criminals will also seek to exploit technology in new ways, so we must work together to direct operational cooperation against the most serious organised criminals, engage tactically with a range of sectors and use our strategic power to collectively call for change to protect the people we serve”
The Head of Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, added:
“CTP is honoured to become the newest member of the Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group, and we look forward to welcoming our international colleagues to the UK next year.
“So many of the threats faced by policing in the UK are also being experienced by our partners across the Five Eyes coalition, meaning our collaboration through FELEG has never been so critical.
“Together we can bring our collective experience and expertise to bear against these emerging threats, which blur the lines between serious organised crime, hostile state activity and ideological extremism.”
16 September 2025
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