How Britain has been kept safe for a decade
A short article by the BBC's veteran reporter Peter Taylor, a key passage:
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Crucially they also rely on the way in which intelligence is now intimately shared between all the agencies: the Security Service (MI5), MI6, GCHQ - and the police. This is the key to keeping Britain safe - although it's by no means guaranteed.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36803542
Anjem Choudary: a problem inside, not outside
An all too familiar face on UK TV screens, in newspapers and quite possibly a few times in the USA, a British Islamic radical Anjem Choudary was finally convicted two weeks ago:
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For 20 years Anjem Choudary stood on street corners, in shopping precincts, outside mosques, embassies and police stations and used his megaphone to drive a wedge between Muslims and the rest of Britain. Now he has been convicted of inviting others to support the Islamic State militant group.
Link to a full account:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36979892
http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/c...3014096.jp.jpg
He was always ready to speak to the media, although wary of documentary makers and to many became the voice of radical, violen Islam.
He remains in custody awaiting sentencing next month and could get up to ten years in jail.
An academic, Andrew Silke has written on what to expect when he is in jail. For reasons that defy an easy explanation handling convicted terrorists in UK jails is - to say the least - incomplete.
Link:https://theconversation.com/how-can-...risoners-64144
Just how Anjem Choudary evaded prosecution has been controversial for a long time; yes, he was a trained lawyer who knew where the legal limits on his words were. IIRC twice UK newspaper submitted evidence after his vitriolic speeches were caught on video. Several Muslims I know speculated he was really working for MI5.
So this headline is not a shock:
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MI5 stopped Scotland Yard taking Choudary down, sources claim
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016...sources-claim/
Court sentenced him to...
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Radical preacher Anjem Choudary has been jailed for five-and-a-half years for inviting support for the so-called Islamic State group....Both men were also sentenced to a notification order lasting 15 years, which requires them to tell police if details such as their address change.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37284199
Given the law on time served on remand and expected good behaviour The Guardian thinks:
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Choudary will serve two years behind bars...
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...upport-of-isis
Two "insiders" ask is UK CT working
The about to retire lawyer, David Anderson, who is the Independent Reviewer of Counter-Terrorism Legislation, has commented on recent government legislation, the Investigative Powers Act (IPA), primarily on covert investigation (including "Big Brother" allegations) and a long awaited, draft bill on counter-extremism (undefined to date). In a BBC radio interview (28 mins):http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b080t882
His views are summarised in this report:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a7502431.html
At one point inthe BBC radio programme 'Prevent' is discussed by it's originator, Sir David Omand, who now expresses doubts; that it has gone too far (9.40-14.40).
Sir David Omand, an ex-GCHQ Director and other security roles, discussed on BBC radio the IPA with David Anderson and they gave the clearest explanation for bulk data collection I have heard ever (IPA covers not just phone and email links). Bulk data has been much criticised - in part aided by the Snowden allegations - and recently deemed illegal for many years by a specialist court in late 2016:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b083r1jn
Where are we now and thank you David Anderson
Prompted by the retirement soon of David Anderson, a commercial barrister (lawyer), who was appointed as the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation in 2011, Peter Oborne has written a comprehensive review of terrorism as if effects the UK primarily.
He ends with:
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Nevertheless, for six years, David Anderson has been a voice of sanity and a force for good. He has brought intellectual clarity, moral courage, a sense of perspective and, perhaps above all, earned the trust of all sides.
Link:http://www.middleeasteye.net/essays/...rism-608161931
Islamist Terrorism: Analysis of Offences and Attacks in the UK (1998-2015)
This weighty volume (1k pgs) and at a hefty price by the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based "think tank" with a "neo-con" character, was published last week.http://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-co...-530-300-1.png
There are links to a four page infographic and summary:http://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-co...nfographic.pdf
A 22 pg summary:http://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-co...d-analysis.pdf
Communities Defeat Terrorism
Ten days ago UK CT's most senior police officer started a new campaign to explain and obtain greater public support. In doing so he revealed some new figures:
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....there were 500 live counter-terror investigations at any time. Information from the public has helped police in a third of the most high-risk investigations, figures show.It has also contributed to stopping some of the 13 attacks - a figure one higher than the last update, given in October.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39176110
BBC News database 'Who are Britain’s jihadists?'. Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32026985
A commentary:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39183003
There are two podcasts: Hostile Reconnaissance (23 mins) and Multiple Bombings (18 mins):
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They tell previously untold stories of how terrorist attacks on UK soil were prevented thanks to information from the public.
Link to the campaign:https://act.campaign.gov.uk/
There is a fuller post on the public contribution in another thread:What & Who discovers terrorist plots?
Westminster attack 22nd March 2017
Yesterday's attack by one man, yet to be id'd, using a SUV and an edged weapon to kill four people - including one unarmed police officer - dominates the news here. Seven arrests have followed, including one of more in Birmingham (nearby to me) and UK CT will be very busy.
One commentary starts with a sub-title:
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After a run of 12 foiled terrorist plots, luck ran out at Westminster for the UK’s intelligence agencies. Now they must ask if they could have stopped it
Then it ends citing the previous Security Service (MI5) Director's interview in November 2016:
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The reality is that because of the investment in services like mine, the UK has got good defences. My expectation is that we will find and stop most attempts at terrorism in this country.
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...urity-services
Just whether "life will remain normal" in Westminster depends on the public's reaction, whatever the politicians say. The TV is reporting here yet more concrete blocks are arriving; once in place such defences rarely removed.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the Brussels attack, a point lost here in the media reporting - although one image of the memorial service was shown.