Colonel Richard Kemp is a former senior UK intelligence official and former chairman of the Cobra Intelligence Group who briefed the British government on secret intelligence.

Speaking with BBC Newsnight this week, Kemp said that the 23,000 jihadists MI5 officials have publicly admitted are living in the UK “may be the tip of the iceberg”:

MI5 figure of 23,000 suspects who pose terrorist threat is probably "the tip of the iceberg" – former intelligence adviser tells #newsnight pic.twitter.com/8rw0LBzf33 — BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) June 26, 2017

The 23,000 number was reported in the days following the Manchester arena attack last month that left 22 victims dead and 250 injured.

Latest Developments on the Ariana Grande Manchester Concert Bombing Investigation https://t.co/4LmWPi4YpM #HomelandSecurity via @pjmedia_com — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) May 25, 2017

The Times reported:

Intelligence officers have identified 23,000 jihadist extremists living in Britain as potential terrorist attackers, it emerged yesterday. The scale of the challenge facing the police and security services was disclosed by Whitehall sources after criticism that multiple opportunities to stop the Manchester bomber had been missed. About 3,000 people from the total group are judged to pose a threat and are under investigation or active monitoring in 500 operations being run by police and intelligence services. The 20,000 others have featured in previous inquiries and are categorised as posing a “residual risk”.

Those MI5 figures were confirmed by UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd the following day on Andrew Marr’s BBC show.

Amber Rudd confirms 23,000 terror suspects on MI5 radar inc 3,000 on 'top list' #Marr — Alan Travis (@alantravis40) May 28, 2017

But Kemp’s stunning admission that these figures on the number of jihadists may be vastly understated lends evidence to the claim that the extent of the threat in the UK may exceed authorities’ ability to deal with it.

The pace of terror attacks in the UK this year has been staggering.

AC Rowley: 3 attacks in 10 weeks, 5 plots foiled since March & 18 thwarted since 2013, tempo of threat unprecedented https://t.co/2vRtlb9LBV pic.twitter.com/5n7YnZHmvS — Counter Terrorism Policing UK (@TerrorismPolice) June 13, 2017

March 22: 4 killed, 50 hurt in vehicular attack near Parliament

May 22: 22 killed, 116 hurt in Manchester

June 3: At least 6 killed, 20 hurt https://t.co/Vvw8Xxv52j — Oren Kessler (@OrenKessler) June 4, 2017

2017 Has Seen a Terror Attack Attempted in Europe Every 9 Dayshttps://t.co/pkGilxUGM1 pic.twitter.com/7vyBikhFmf — Simon Harding (@gridnash) May 25, 2017

Notwithstanding that arrests have been taking place at a blistering speed:

Number of terror-related arrests in #Britain has hit a record high of 304 in the year to March 2017, up 18%. https://t.co/waJvlf20uK pic.twitter.com/dnech2M7To — Nick Short 🇺🇸 (@PoliticalShort) June 15, 2017

#TESAT17: 142 failed, foiled & completed terrorist attacks in the EU in 2016. 1002 arrests.

Download report here: https://t.co/mMjkmWo2Zc pic.twitter.com/IxTnjVnz8X — Europol (@Europol) June 15, 2017

Top among the terror concerns are those returning foreign fighters who have traveled to terror zones, most recently Syria and Iraq, to fight with terror organizations:

The scale of terror in the UK – 23,000 suspects being monitored including 400 who fought for ISIS in Syria https://t.co/tey7C7lOET pic.twitter.com/OmHYjpmwLA — The Sun (@TheSun) June 5, 2017

And in Europe the UK is second only to France when it comes to the foreign fighter problem:

After the London Bridge attack, London Mayor Sadiq Khan was evasive about where those 400 fighters who had returned from Syria were exactly and why they had been allowed to return:

How are we letting trained jihadis back into the UK without knowing where they are? Sadiq Khan grilled by Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan pic.twitter.com/G7yGWE5mkV — The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 6, 2017

1/ I'm not surprised UK hit by terror. I've seen many UK based jihadists in S-Turkey moving freely btwn UK &N-Syria. Had to go wrong 1day.> — Harald Doornbos (@HaraldDoornbos) May 25, 2017

London: Police thwarts Mumbai-style attack, sparks terror alert from hundreds of jihadists returning from #Syria http://t.co/B42fYwNbhZ — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) February 16, 2014

The problem of jihadists returning home is not a new problem, but it had clearly grown unmanageable.

"Up to 65 al-Battar Battalion fighters have returned to the UK from Libya, more than 40 to France and 30 to Belgium" https://t.co/ZzM8NnNdx8 — Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) June 3, 2017

MI5 fears over 60 Somali jihad plotters in UK http://t.co/l8lQoe1u0d — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) September 29, 2013

UK domestic intelligence chief: 'low hundreds' of UK residents have gone to Syria to fight http://t.co/Xbgw0KJKex — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) November 7, 2013

Exactly how bad the foreign fighter problem had become came to light when it was revealed that more Muslims had joined ISIS than the military in the UK over the same period:

More British Muslims fight in Syria than in UK Armed Forces, MP claims http://t.co/SZ3ZqoBXCr (Al Hayat/AFP/Getty) pic.twitter.com/mTYwLv0VoY — Telegraph Breaking News (@TelegraphNews) August 21, 2014

And it was revealed this week that more than 40 known terrorists are living inside the UK but cannot be touched because of human rights laws:

Exclusive: More than 40 convicted terrorists have used human rights laws to remain in UK https://t.co/8I5dAam1GX pic.twitter.com/1ROe1OmoTA — Telegraph Breaking News (@TelegraphNews) June 24, 2017

Police anti-terrorism efforts have been hampered by politically correct policies:

From 2006: Police anger over ban on arrests from @gmpolice during Ramadanhttps://t.co/CzrEOajDmm — Richard W. Jones 🧹 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧 ➡️ (@richardwjones) May 28, 2017

In case you missed it: ‘Met ignored extremism among my fellow Muslim officers’ https://t.co/PqACSnO2qA pic.twitter.com/x4fjehqD9A — The Sunday Times (@thesundaytimes) September 14, 2016

Javaria Saeed quit the Met Police Muslim Contact Unit, alleges she was told her career may suffer if she spoke out against colleagues views pic.twitter.com/hPsnzqGp4r — Cider Social(ism) Distancing (@SurfaceKrystal) September 20, 2016

And by ignoring disturbing trends in the UK Muslim community:

Terrorism in the UK has been fostered by widespread extremist views that have largely gone unchallenged:

Poll reveals 40pc of Muslims want sharia law in UK – Telegraph https://t.co/l58CrW9NZf — Ezra Levant 🇨🇳🦠 (@ezralevant) November 14, 2015

REWIND 2015: After Charlie Hebdo attacks, 27% of UK Muslims found sympathy with terrorists https://t.co/BD22qpKvwm pic.twitter.com/Wmn9fs7HZZ — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) November 23, 2015

Last year a YouGov poll of UK Muslims was released that revealed some shocking findings:

What do British Muslims really think? A new survey may surprise you @Channel4 https://t.co/UcqA9PNuhr pic.twitter.com/PpejGXdbOi — The Sunday Times Magazine (@TheSTMagazine) April 13, 2016

What do British Muslims really think? A new survey may surprise you @Channel4 https://t.co/UcqA9PNuhr pic.twitter.com/x01UiiMvPM — The Sunday Times Magazine (@TheSTMagazine) April 10, 2016

From 2016: What Do British Muslims Really Think? https://t.co/l9Lgz2yi5C pic.twitter.com/AdLXGXLg1u — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) June 29, 2017

But rather than confront the spread of radical Islamist ideology in the UK, the government directed their attention elsewhere as the problem grew:

In Britain, Police Arrest Twitter And Facebook Users If They Make Anti-Muslim Statements by @Jim_Edwards http://t.co/C7wT13Y2U3 — Business Insider (@businessinsider) May 26, 2013

After London attacks, British prime minister calls for worldwide Internet regulations to fight terrorism https://t.co/kyy8alY1I0 — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 6, 2017

Two arrested over shocking Facebook and YouTube video of Koran burning https://t.co/mTj7Lgod8L — Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) June 8, 2017

Finsbury Park attack: Man arrested over tweet https://t.co/gxyZ0csW9y — BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 20, 2017

Just a reminder that London authorities devoted resources to investigating @KTHopkins tweets for 'Islamophobia'. Terrorists? Not so much. pic.twitter.com/UrMfOh22zu — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) June 4, 2017

Meanwhile, the UK’s lackluster “countering violent extremism” (CVE) efforts have been undermined from within and without:

By day, at heart of counter-terror policing. And by night, preacher of extremism http://t.co/9b8KqVnTb4 pic.twitter.com/dNah8vWUtv — The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 12, 2015

'Myths' are undermining the Prevent strategy to stop extremism, says Britain's most prominent Muslim lawyer https://t.co/X4GlTMB78B pic.twitter.com/MLM9F0EBaR — The Times (@thetimes) June 3, 2017

https://twitter.com/NoraMulready/status/867461892150788096

https://twitter.com/alimhaider/status/867506677209235457

As BBC Newsnight explored in their segment this week, a considerable portion of the UK’s terror problem up to this point has been localized around the al-Muhajiroun networks. These networks, where many of their domestic terrorists have sprung from, have been a chronic problem:

Research by @HJS_Org in 2011 showed 1 in 5 of Islamist-related terrorism convictions between 2001-2011 in the UK linked with Al Muhajiroun. — Stephen Pollard (@stephenpollard) March 22, 2017

UK is Extremists’ Utopia, w/ MB & Al Muhajiroun Offshoots Ascendent – Arab Times http://t.co/cvbRQga67X — El_Grillo (@El_Grillo1) December 8, 2014

Here is the entire BBC Newsnight segment in its entirety:

What Richard Kemp revealed this week is that the jihadist problem in the UK may be larger than anyone is the government can comprehend or is willing to admit. But as we’ve seen in recent weeks, the attacks continue and British citizens keep dying.

Has the terror problem in the UK passed the point of no return? If Kemp’s claims prove accurate, and there is evidence to believe they are, the attacks we’ve seen this year may be just the beginning of a terrifying trend.