London: Britain is to increase the number of spies it employs to tackle threats from extremists, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today as he presented a first report on a new national security strategy.

Staff numbers in the domestic service MI5,the overseas service MI6 and its "listening" station GCHQ "will rise in number to 4,000,twice the level of 2001" before the attacks in the United States, he told lawmakers.

Four new regional counter-terrorism units and four regional intelligence centres would also be created, while there would be greater input on security matters from non-government experts, he added.

Elsewhere, Brown said the public should be better informed about the existing threat to the country from extremists, announcing the publication from later this year of a "national register of risks".

Source : PTI