General CT in Europe (catch all)

[Bill Moore]

In no way are my comments intended to dismiss the very real and growing threat of Islamist terrorism in the U.K.; however, I find the "conservative" estimate of 200 suicide bombers in the U.K. to be a bit of a reach.

While a lot of young and not so young want to be jihadists will brag about their desire to die as a martyr for the cause, most suicide bombers (the real ones) undergo an intensive indoctrination period (or brainwashing) and then held in isolation until it is time to hit the target, because historically it has been demonstrated that they'll have a change of heart if they're allowed to rejoin society and become a sleeper bomber of sorts. Maybe there are Islamist safe havens within the U.K. where 10s of would be suicide bombers are isolated from the rest of society, but it seems unlikely. Of course I need to caveat the above statement that not all suicide bombers require extensive indoctrination (they're already true believers) and can hide in society openly for months and still hit their target as many of the 9/11 attackers did.

One report quoted an MI6 officer's briefing to US officials in which he said: "The internal threat is growing more dangerous because some extremists are conducting non-lethal training without ever leaving the country. Should these extremists then decide to become suicide operatives, HMG [Her Majesty's Government] intelligence resources, eavesdropping and surveillance would be hard pressed to find them on any 'radar screen'."

What type of non-lethal training are they talking about? Indoctrination?

There is no doubt that the insider threat is a growing concern in Europe and possibly the U.S. (especially the lone wolf attacks), but a suicide attack is an entirely different level. If they have the infrastructure in place within Europe (and in this case the UK) to indoctrinate, radicalize, inspire tens of individuals to conduct a suicide attack, and then of course actually provide the materials to do so (a topic not addressed in the article) then the threat is worse than I thought.

[davidbfpo]

A rare, detailed article on counter-terrorism in Belguim before the latest attacks in Paris, a week after the Hebdo attack; the former were linked to a suburb of Brussels, Molenbeek:http://www.buzzfeed.com/joshuahersh/...ns#.pgNVQOLglm

The headline & sub-title:

What They Missed: The Anti-Terror Raid That Asked All The Wrong Questions Ten months before the deadly attacks in Paris, a nighttime raid in a quiet corner of Belgium left an apartment destroyed, two suspected attackers dead, one man arrested — and a host of unanswered questions. BuzzFeed News’ Joshua Hersh investigates a shoot-out that showed Europe’s terrorism problem starts at home.

[davidbfpo]

Taken from CTC's Sentinel an article by Raffaello Pantucci; the Abstract says:

While clearly at the top of the Islamic State’s targeting list, the United Kingdom so far has been spared from any major terrorist atrocities at home with direct links to the Islamic State. A review of the trials of those accused of terrorist plotting in the country between 2013 and 2015 reveals that the violent Islamist threat picture has instead been dominated by lone-actor plots, with some demonstrating connections of some sort to individuals on the battlefield in Syria or Iraq. Going forward, however, the threat is likely to become more acute as the Islamic State pivots toward international terror.

Link:https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-i...-terror-trials