Moderator's Note: Original thread title was 'Oslo explosion: dozens injured, buildings damaged after Norway city blast' and amended next day.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ity-blast.htmlQuote:
A massive explosion rocked central Oslo on Friday, injuring dozens of people and severely damaging government buildings including the Prime Minister’s office.
Possibly multiple blasts.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe...ion/index.html
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=130504Quote:
The Norwegian police have detained one man who is believed to have shot at a youth camp of the Labor Party on the island of Utoya 50 km away from Oslo after the capital was rattled by a bomb attack.
The man is said to have been dressed and to have opened fire with a machine gun; his arrest has not been confirmed by the police.
Two analysts comment on the bombing, without assigning blame: StartsEnds:Quote:
The targeting of Norway should not be a surprise. In 2003, Al Qaeda --- through its current leader, Ayman Al-Zawahiri --- first threatened Norway, possibly because of the involvement of Norwegian special forces in Afghanistan. Since then, the Norwegian role in Afghanistan has expanded, although its troops are to be withdrawn later this year.
Link:http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/...-al-qaeda.htmlQuote:
Whatever the cause of the explosion, the attack will have widespread ramifications in terms of Norway’s security policies, domestic politics, and in relation to broader European security issues. If Al Qaeda is shown to have some connection to the attack, or even it claims a connection, it will represent at least a small resurgence of the organization under its new leader and potentially a shift to attack more “soft target” countries that are less protected than high profile targets such as the United Kingdom and the United States.
In a comment, so not verified by research:That link refers to a SAAG analysis, a year ago:http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5C...paper3915.htmlQuote:
On German TV a terrorism expert pointed at an explosion at the Saudi Embassy in Oslo last year, to Norway's participation in the forces fighting against Qaddafi, and to the fact that one of the attacked buildings is Norway's Oil Ministry.
A different angle, Norway & CT:Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...or-attack.htmlQuote:
Norway’s intelligence service had previously been criticised for its failure to keep track of suspected terror cells and the country was felt to be complacent about the prospect of a terror attack, secret cables from the WikiLeaks files reveal.
Norway Attack Roundup
Entry Excerpt:
Bomb Blast, Gun Assault Terrorize Norway - VOA
Violent attacks savaged normally peaceful Norway on Friday, with an Oslo bomb blast killing at least seven people and then a gunman disguised as a police officer opening fire on a youth camp. The twin assaults occurred within hours of each other, although it was not immediately clear they were linked.
The mid-afternoon bomb blast rocked Norway's government headquarters and also set the nearby oil ministry building on fire. Hundreds of windows in the 17-story government headquarters were shattered, as were others in buildings as far as 400 meters away. Thick, black smoke billowed from some of the offices, and streets in the normally quiet neighborhood were littered with debris from the explosion. Authorities said at least seven people were killed and numerous others injured.
Hours later, police reported that a gunman disguised as a police officer opened fire on youths attending a camp sponsored by the ruling Labour Party. At least five people were wounded in the attack. Authorities said they dispatched anti-terror police to the campsite on Utoeya Island south of Oslo...
CNA, a research group that studies terrorism, said a terror group, Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami (the Helpers of the Global Jihad) claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Islamist organization said the attacks were in response to the presence of Norwegian troops in Afghanistan as part of the U.S.-led international fight against the Taliban and Islamic insurgents, as well as insults against the Prophet Mohammed...
More
Blasts and Gun Attack in Norway; 7 Dead - NYT
Blast Rocks Oslo; Gunman Attacks Youth Camp - WP
Deadly Attacks Shake Norway - WSJ
Oslo Bomb Blast Kills at Least 7, Injures Several - LAT
Twin Terror Attacks Shock Norway - BBC
Seven Dead in Oslo Bomb; Nine Killed at Youth Camp - TT
Blast in Oslo Government Buildings - Reuters
Oslo Police Say 9-10 People Killed at Youth Camp - AP
Nine, Perhaps 10, Killed in Norway Shooting - Reuters
Norway Police Says Believe Shooting Linked to Blast - Reuters
Norway Attack: Likely Suspected Groups - Reuters
Oslo Attack Speculation Centers on Kurdish Group - WP
Factbox: Norway Security Outlook: 'Increased Uncertainty' - Reuters
Oslo Bomb Latest Updates - BBC
Video, Map, Updates of Oslo Explosion - NYT
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Just because the Jihad websites are excited about the attack doesn't mean they were conducted by Islamists. They may have been two separate groups for each attack with an unlikely synchronization in timing, or both attacks may have been conducted by domestic political extremists. Too early to say at this point. First reports are almost always incorrect.
http://news.yahoo.com/undetonated-ex...213754348.html
Quote:
Undetonated explosives were found on an island where a gunman killed at least 10 people at a youth camp near Oslo, Norwegian police said on Friday.
Explosives were found on the island," deputy Oslo police chief Sveining Sponheim told reporters. He said a man detained by police was aged 32 and "ethnic Norwegian."
I notice that there is no thread on this yet, probably because it is a little too close to home for many of us. Or even home for some of us. The idea of the threat is not to turn what is a tragedy into a case study but to look at what these events mean.
I think this attack in Norway is relevent to this board. A couple of observations while watching the events unfold on tv was that the immediate response was that this was AQ or an AQ linked group. Suggestions were then made that it might be an attack my right wing elements. Knowing very little about white supremacy in Norway and with a quick search on wikipedia yielding nothing, I thought this would be a good place for people to compile info and thoughts. This is indeed a worrying development, far right views and politics have been on the rise in Northern Europe over the last decade but even so such an event was unthinkable.
Are the far right the new threat? Will we see other states cracking down on far right groups, the EDL in England or the various militias in the States.
EDIT: Thanks for the merge.
There is a SWJ item on the Norway attack, with links to media reports and some comments:http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/201...ttack-roundup/
This US report appears - after a little scanning - to contain a lot of information gathered by researching the suspect:http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpps/new...22-kh_14255246
I've been listening to the BBC News this morning and there is a mixture of reporting, speculation and more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14260205. Within are parts of the jigsaw on the attack, such as reports the suspect / defendant had purchased several tonnes of fertiliser in may for his farm.
Wikipedia seems to be evolving into a rather efficient news aggregator:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks
I noticed this 10 minutes after the news here reported it, crazy.Quote:
Originally Posted by defense linguistics
Grim day yesterday for Norway, which continues today. It is almost a throwback to the invasion by Hitler's Germany in 1940 for the violence and the realisation when Quisling and his followers came to the fore, assisting the occupation that there was an 'enemy within'.
Much has been written about 'Lone Wolves', notably by Raffaello Pantucci and his website is: http://raffaellopantucci.com/tag/terrorism/ He is ex-IISS and now aligned to Kings College London. He has wisely not yet commented.
The potential for 'Lone Wolves' to develop has always been there, which the USA is more familiar with than Western Europe. Today the speed of moving to planning an attack is faster and the knowledge required easier to find. The extreme right has it's "lunatic fringe", rarely aggressive in Western Europe I say and despite all the bluster it is usually defensive posturing.
The BBC's Oslo correspondent has added a comment on the Norwegian extreme right:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14260195
I am sure many politicians across Europe, particularly where there is an extreme right fringe, will be asking their security agencies for a review of their own national / regional position. There is no reason why that should not be done in the UK, maybe in the USA & Canada?
Governments will normally conduct such a review behind a wall of secrecy. I see no reason why, in the UK, the Home Affairs Select Committee should not hold an open hearing nor that US Congressman who holds hearings on the threat from Muslims.
... and again I'm glad that I don't pay much attention to early reports...
I posted this link in the journal entry comments, thought I'd share it here as well. Brief info on the attacker:
http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...killer/242398/
Quote:
Breivik had set up his own business, Breivik Geofarm, and a month ago had started to run an organic farm in Hedmark in eastern Norway. There he reportedly produced and stored fertilizers that he was able to use in explosives.
He was known to be active on the internet, expressing extremist Islamophobic views on forums and criticizing immigration policies.
He recently claimed that politics today was not about socialism vs. capitalism but nationalism vs. internationalism. He argued on a Swedish news website that the media were not critical enough about Islam and claimed that Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom in the Netherlands was the only "true" party of conservatives.
A YouTube clip 'Breivik Video Manifesto - Norway' accredited to the murderer, which was removed and then re-appeared:http://www.twitvid.com/EXJWW
Other sources indicate he was a rich man, had historical ties to a conservative political party till a few years ago and posted a lot on the web.
Well that was alarmingQuote:
Originally Posted by davidbfpo
It's been confirmed that he worked alone, that the attacks were planned and prepped for long in advance, that his background included Norwegian military service (conscription has been mentioned).
He is a member of a gun club and a registered gun owner, is well educated and has high intellect.
Under the auspices of his incorporated farm, he purchased and took receipt of six tonnes of fertilizer a month or two ago - probably did not use all of that for the bombing of Oslo, but a large quantity of it at any rate. As garden-variety fertilizer won't react explosively for ANFO, it's a safe bet that the fertilizer he bought was high-grade/high nitrogen content, otherwise he'd be faced with a ton of time needed to extract sufficient nitrogen to get a good boom. :wry:
More precisely, the Israeli press' take on it...
Full article found here: http://www.jpost.com/International/A...aspx?id=230762Quote:
Norway massacre suspect aired anti-Muslim, pro-Israel views
(...)
Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian who killed nearly 100 people in a combined terror attack Friday that included car bombings in Oslo and a shooting rampage at an island summer camp, held fiercely anti-Islamic and pro-Israel views, according to a 1,500 page manifesto he uploaded before his killing spree Friday.
(...)
In a jab at left-wing Jews, Breivik writes that pre-war German Jews were disloyal to their country, “at least the so-called liberal Jews, similar to the liberal Jews today that oppose nationalism/Zionism and support multiculturalism. Jews that support multiculturalism today are as much of a threat to Israel and Zionism (Israeli nationalism) as they are to us. So let us fight together with Israel, with our Zionist brothers against all anti-Zionists, against all cultural Marxists/multiculturalists.”
(...)
The manifesto also serves as a call to arms of sorts, in which Breivik lays out his reasons for launching the attack, focusing on what he describes as the importance of nationalism and the growing scourge of Islam in Europe.
These events really won't help with the conspiracy theories surrounding the Free Masons with him rambling out about becoming a Knight Templar. It seems he was won over by this romatic idea himself. The question which will be raised now will be "could it happen here?!". I think if you look at it in a serious way, it would be unlikely to happen in the UK even with the existence of a thriving black market in arms. The bomb could be made but with the tight restrictions on the perchase of fertiliser it would raise suspicions, and in the aftermath of this people are more likley to alert the authorities to strange behaviour. Furthermore we are likely to see an adverse reaction to what Breivik had wanted. Groups such as the English Defence League will have to keep a low profile, does anyone know if they have released a statement about this?
TDB,
Yes they have and is on their website. There are two statements condemning the murders and denying any links to the suspect. This is he latest statement:http://englishdefenceleague.org/offi...nders-brievik/Quote:
Groups such as the English Defence League will have to keep a low profile, does anyone know if they have released a statement about this?
For non-UK readers the English Defence League (EDL) are:From:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Defence_LeagueQuote:
..a far-right street protest movement which opposes what it perceives as the spread of Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic extremism in England. The EDL uses street-based marches to protest against Islamic extremism.
It's even in english... :rolleyes:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011...nline-comments
Understandably the press have started let's say more thoughtful, reflective pieces and having read through a pile I've picked out four IMHO of value.
Breivik's Swamp: Was the Oslo killer radicalized by what he read online? From FP Blog by Tony Archer, a Brit who has lived in Finland and watched the CT scene:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...swamp?page=0,0
The NYT looks at Norway's immigrant population:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/wo..._r=2&ref=world
Which cites an Eritrean refugee:A Norwegian professor's article notes half the immigrants are from Poland and Sweden ends with:Quote:
The most important thing is what the majority thinks and the majority is fine with us.
Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/thomas-...d-consequencesQuote:
..we doubtless woke on Saturday morning to a slightly more paranoid, slightly less pleasant society. A society where we have become aware of our fundamental vulnerability.
Finally the 'Five Remedial Lessons from the Norwegian Tragedy' by Paul Pillar;Only the opening line for eachLink:http://nationalinterest.org/blog/pau...n-tragedy-5659Quote:
1. Don't jump to quick conclusions about responsibility for an attack, let alone spin out instant analysis based on such conclusions. 2. The threat that gets the most attention is not the only threat. 3. Individual incidents are not necessarily indicative of larger trends. 4. Open societies are inherently vulnerable to terrorist attack and ultimately unprotectable. 5. That a previously unknown individual (possibly with some help) could inflict so many casualties (more even than the 7/7 transit bombings in London) should put into perspective the limits of detection and prevention.
I was both concerned and amused at some of the initial conclusion jumping "analyses" that accompanied the early reports from NO. STRATFOR did a better job of laying out various possible explanations, and then analyzed the impact of each on greater Europe.
Thanks to Wikileaks we learn that the Norwegians failed to take the threat of terrorism seriously.
WikiLeaks files show Norway unprepared for terror attack
It seems that it always takes a tragedy before a country (the politicians, security services and the people) starts to get serious about the diverse terrorist threat it faces.
Useful comment, from Foreign Affairs:
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articl...unter-jihadism
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articl...lims-of-norway
Don't really need Wikileaks to see that Norway wasn't taking terrorist threats very seriously, as public documents make it clear that the authorities saw very little risk. Cited in the above:
Quote:
The PST -- the Norwegian Police Security Force, somewhat comparable to the British MI5 -- concluded in its most recent publicly available risk analysis, published in February, that right-wing extremists posed “no serious threat.”
Dayuhan, I am in no position to know what the right wing threat is in Norway, but I also don't think one madman (a condition that tends to manifest itself in every nation) constitutes a grave threat trend. If there are additional planned or actual attacks conducted by the far right indicating a conspiracy then the threat would be high in my view.Quote:
The PST -- the Norwegian Police Security Force, somewhat comparable to the British MI5 -- concluded in its most recent publicly available risk analysis, published in February, that right-wing extremists posed “no serious threat.”
Well they have now had their wake up call.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Moore
I guess that as they saw “no serious threat” they would have been unprepared for any such eventuality and as such the criticism of the response time for armed police to arrive at the island is unfair given the state of readiness the police would have been at. I suggest that under the circumstances the response was good (given the distraction of the bomb blast and all).
Didn't mean to suggest that the analysis was deficient - based on the information they would have had available it was probably a reasonable conclusion - only that it was no secret, and that you wouldn't need Wikileaks to be aware of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Moore
JMA and Dayuhan,
No issue with either response. The right wing, Islamist, left wing terrorist threat in Norway may be real or imagined, but there is still the issue of the criminal threat (the madman who killed 10s of Norweigans) and the terribly slow response to one gun man that in my opinion should compel the gov to relook their policing procedures.
I have the unpopular opinion that although we generally respond quicker in the U.S. our so called SWAT teams (in many of our smaller cities they're largely composed of overweight, under trained police who obviously don't this responsibility seriously) will wait outside a building (name your school shooting) "assessing" the situation while innocents are being murdered.
It won't get any better with the current financial challenges in the U.S..
Quote:
Originally Posted by JMA
Really?
Even after this, safety measures on one of the many, many Norwegian ferries are more important than CT.
Resources (including attention) need to be allocated rationally, not based on fear.
'The Anders Breivik I knew'
A very well written and thoughtful article written by somebody who was his classmate and crossed Anders paths twice that day.Quote:
And, more importantly, I have never felt the kind of rage or hate he must have had inside him.
I still cannot understand the source of all that hate.
Most people think of him now as a monster.
I still remember his smile and his jokes.
I remember how Anders would sometimes come up to you from behind, and jokingly yell "Kra!" in your ear - just for a good-hearted scare.
It was his signature greeting in the school yard back then.
Basically, he was not that much out of the ordinary.
A curious press report:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...f-weapons.html
''Quote:
Prof Paul Wilkinson, of the Centre for the study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews, said: “With hindsight I think the Norwegians need to step up monitoring of these transactions and of domestic extremist groups.
“I think there is a strong case that with closer monitoring there would have been a chance of finding out what Breivik was up to, taking him into questioning and preventing this terrible sequence of events.”
David, quote is from the link you provided, and what concerns me is we now have people suggesting that Norway and it implied that e-bay and other companies also should more closely monitor their suspects and customers. We can take this fear thing too far in short order (Homeland Defense) and inch every closer to Orson Wells 1983 novel. You don't protect freedom by denying it.
There's a huge horde of people with certain beliefs and preferences who would do lots of very unpopular and crappy things if they only could.
They lie in wait till something happens that can be misused to push through their agenda when other people's brains at least temporarily (sometimes permanently) lose the capacity to think rationally about the topic in question.
Examples;
* TSA tap-downs
* OIF
* Patriot Act
And at other times said 'despicable' people have enough power to bring about the crisis that helps their agenda. Your news are full of it these days....
The nazis even waited till they had a world war as distraction for their most egregious plans.
Societies' biggest failure is to not keep their ~5% 'despicable' people in check, away from (direct) power. Crisis situations that lead to otherwise unacceptable reactions merely expose that the society failed to keep the 'despicable' people away from power. The society enabled them to get into a jump-off position, close enough to power to eventually realise their crappy ideas.
On the other hand, the Norwegians don't seem to be poor at keeping their wrong people at bay; afaik their head of government refused to promote any new anti-terror laws and the state (officially) merely intends to add some police presence to some locations and events.
Would that be "...in check and away from direct power."?Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuchs
If so how does one identify this 5%?
That’s just resources, though, isn’t it? Small town law enforcement agencies just can’t afford full-time SWAT types, and even if they could I don’t know that there would be enough individuals with the right mix of talents and motivations to fill the posts, not to mention the time and expense of training up those who do. Now, by ‘small town’ I mean those communities of 500–10,000 people like most in the area where I grew up. But if by ‘smaller cities’ you mean communities of 250,000 or more the reasonable expectations may well be different (and if you have a unit you feel fit to call a SWAT team I would think you could at the very least require the members to be physically fit).Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Moore
Establish a culture of reality, not fiction. The few per cent 'despicable' persons are usually known, but their character and demonstrated leanings are not being published and considered properly. Instead, they keep a shroud of fiction around themselves.Quote:
Originally Posted by JMA
Lenin warned about the power hunger and extremism of Stalin - the party did not listen.
Hitler wrote about most of his intents back in the 20's - nobody believed him.
It's also rarely a surprise to hear some idiotic advice from certain people. We know our usual suspects, but societies fail to keep them in irrelevancy.
In Germany we have one arrogant prick who played the representative of high morals for years until he got busted with Cocaine and forced prostitutes.
Guess what? He's back on TV 'because he's so good on TV'.
Opinion? That sounds like a fact to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Moore
Raising and exposing painful home truths is never a popular activity as they tend to want to shoot the messenger.
Why even around here...
Howsomeever, there is a fair amount of shooting at dubious messages and even more at good messages poorly delivered in an antagonistic or condescending tone... ;)
Seems fair. :D
When I worked with Local, County, State and Federal LEAs in my home state I was always curious why so many small towns created SWAT. Even with great training, one has to have a large gene pool to draw from first. Michaelangelo spent much longer looking for the perfect block of marble than he did actually carving the David once he'd made his selection.
Most communiites would be better served by having 1-2 guys who train with a larger city SWAT, who can act in a pinch as shooters, or more likely as liaisons to facilitate bringing in the main team once needed. The lure of black velcro is strong, though, and everyone wants to be a cool guy...
The bottom line is:Quote:
Most communiites would be better served by having 1-2 guys who train with a larger city SWAT, who can act in a pinch as shooters, or more likely as liaisons to facilitate bringing in the main team once needed. The lure of black velcro is strong, though, and everyone wants to be a cool guy...
If you're an obese cop that can't sprint, lift and carry a person, run up stairs and climb a ladder quickly with kit on, shoot well under pressure (to include after rapidly deploying by running to a position where you can engage) you're a phony pretending to be a SWAT officer. You don't take your job seriously.
If your organization is too risk adverse to allow your team to take a risk and enter a school/hospital etc. while a shooter is active and you have less than perfect intelligence, then the citizens have a right to question why they're funding a SWAT team.
Black velcro would be more appropriate than trying to look like a tree inside a building:)
That is my politically incorrect rant for July.
A detailed and long analysis piece by Raffaello Pantucci 'What Have We Learned about Lone Wolves from Anders Behring Breivik?'. The abstract says:Link:http://raffaellopantucci.com/2011/12...hring-breivik/Quote:
Anders Behring Breivik’s massacre on July 22, 2011 showed the danger that a well-organized Lone Wolf could cause. The methodical and calculated way with which he prepared and justified his act awoke security services the world over as to the potential menace that this form of terrorism can pose. As they revise their strategies, this article casts a preliminary eye on the case using a particular Lone Wolf prism of analysis to try to see what lessons can be learned from the case. Drawing on Breivik’s own writing and public sources, the article analyses his biography, the ideology he used to justify his act, the degree to which he seems to have been connected to others, his effectiveness, what role the Internet played and his mental competence all to try to draw some early lessons from the case. In concluding it offers some possible lessons learned that might offer practitioners some ideas of how to counter this sort of a threat in the future.
He concludes:To say the least an investigative nightmare, even with modern techniques, notably in IT systems doing the initial analysis - so many leads to check.Quote:
From the perspective of countering people going down Breivik’s path, it is almost impossible to imagine solutions without moving into the space of curtailing individual free speech rights something that is clearly counter-productive. However, some recognition of the potential for such virulent language to be taken further into action by certain individuals is important. Mainstream political parties should make greater efforts to counter it through debate when they see it emerge. A parallel case to be considered in this light is that of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the US. She was shot by a man who thought he was doing his part to support the extreme right of his party that had attacked Congresswoman Giffords as a traitor for holding certain views. Ideas and words have great power and in a world where we can see the ease with which terrorist operations can be launched by individuals without much outside direction, consideration must be paid to the fact that such extreme ideas might resonate in different ways than they are intended. While stamping out such ideas and thoughts is going to be impossible, currently in some European countries, such ideas have been allowed to slowly move into the mainstream with little confrontation from established political entities. More effort could be expended to confront such ideas and prevent them being mainstreamed. The result otherwise is likely to be more Lone Wolf attacks in the future with a few managing to get through with results as spectacular and tragic as Anders Behring Breivik’s.
The trial of Breivik has received some coverage by the BBC, but I expect this to lapse with an anticipated ten week trial:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17781472
As you would expect pundits and analysts have published their views of late, although IMHO their timing is poor and it would have been better to wait till the trial ended.
The first article was published a month ago in France, by a Norwegian:http://www.opendemocracy.net/mariano...root-in-europe
There is some cross-over in a FP Blog piece by a German author:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...lone?page=full
I'm really not looking forward to the coverage. Breivik is just going to spout the same awful, racist crap that awful racists always spout.
Imagine some billionaire tracks all TV hours wasted on such a crap and then decides to buy the same qty of TV hours, same time slots, for something useful.
Somehow for such people it is always necessary to sacrifies the lives of other human beings for the-ir greater good. Usually the preperation of this entails "hard choices" and "sacrifices" on their part and the story of their personal effort becomes central.Quote:
Originally Posted by motorfirebox
The human mind has an amazing ability to make things up to suit its perceived needs. In this twisted logic the more horrible the crime which "had to be done" the more laudable the personal effort to achieve or overcome it for the "good" purpose can be.
Hat tip to an occasional blogsite for a pointer to:Summary:Quote:
The Norweigan Central Evaluation Commission has published its review into police handling of the violent attacks of 22 July 2011 in Norway
Link to report:https://www.politi.no/vedlegg/rapport/Vedlegg_1665.pdfQuote:
The main findings and recommendations are:
Notification by red alert: The police need to review and improve their alert system.
Situation reporting: The police need to improve situation reporting skills, focusing on verifying information, making sure the information is relevant for the superior lead, and highlighting information that is new since the last situation report.
Organisation, direction and coordination: There is mixed capability from area to area to respond to an event of this kind, and some areas had not updated their response plans. There is a need to consider introducing requirements as to minimum police staffing and skills, and there should be more attention on district-to-district peer support. The police needs to introduce a nation-wide emergency communications system due to communications problems experienced during the event, and several other IT and communications systems should be revamped. Police need to provide more training in incident management. There was good coordination between police and other partners on the ground. Overall, the Commission finds that the police carried out their duties as promptly as possible under the circumstances.
Management of evacuees and family/friends: Family and friends have been positive about the support they received from police in the immediate aftermath of the event, and centres for evacuees and family/friends were rapidly set up. But confusion was caused because several hotline numbers were released, people were confused about which one to use, and cooperation with the public health services caused frustration.
Public relations: There was confusion about which police district was handling press and media enquiries, and the Commission recommends that where more than one police district is affected by an incident the National Police Directorate should play a greater role in coordination. More user-friendly software is needed for posting information on the public police website, and insufficient attention was devoted to public relations challenges in the restoration-of-normality phase.
Health and safety: The Commission recommends that local Health and Safety plans be developed further.
Link to the pointer:http://rachelbriggs.wordpress.com/
After the bombing attack in central Oslo and the massacre at a youth camp on Utoya island, by Anders Behring Breivik, Norway set up an independent commission, known as the 22 July Commission, to:This link is to the commission's website, which has an English extract, which is highly recommended reading:http://22julikommisjonen.no/en/ReportQuote:
review and learn from the terrorist attacks
The extract has some startling comments on the first responders & health service compared to the police and on the difficulties of ensuring identified problems are really resolved.
The BBC report on 22/7:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19241327 and this week Breivik was dealt with in court:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19376468
I am particularly interested in the pre-attack intelligence aspects, in March 2012 the Norwegian PST or Police Security Services:To date I have been unable to trace a copy of this report; the BBC News report has a very short summary:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17399488Quote:
is comparable to the MI5 in the UK
If anyone has a link to the report, preferably in English, please let me know or post here.
Finally there is a previous thread on the Oslo attacks 'Norway attacks: what happened and the implications', so this thread will be merged one day:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=13830
Lessons seen and mainly learnt from Norway:Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22951220Quote:
It's been nearly two years since Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik murdered 77 people, most of them teenagers. Nearly a quarter of Norwegians knew someone directly affected. But as the country began to grieve together, it also embarked on a unique process of healing.
The Norwegian internal security service, PST, published a report on the Breivik attack and why their systems failed to identify him beforehand as a threat. Thanks to a "lurker" I have found two press releases on the PST's website that summarise their July 2012 report, which appears to be only available in Norwegian:http://www.pst.no/media/43446/evalue...072011_PST.pdf
a) How far should a security service could go in preventing? http://www.pst.no/blogg/hvor-langt-s...i-a-forebygge/
b) PST's evaluation after 22 July events http://www.pst.no/media/utgivelser/e...-22-juli-2011/
An event @ The Frontline Club, London next month with:Normally within days a podcast apepars on the website:http://www.frontlineclub.com/insight...tad-one-of-us/Quote:
...award-winning foreign correspondent sne Seierstads new book, One of Us, offers a definitive account of this tragic episode in Norways history. She will be joining us to share her research and talk about what she discovered about Breivik, his ideology and the world he grew up in.