British Intelligence Chief Sharpens Terrorism Warning
By SARAH LYALL
New York Times
LONDON, Nov. 5 — Britain’s chief domestic intelligence official said Monday that at least 2,000 people in Britain posed a “direct threat to national security and public safety” because of their support for terrorism, an increase of 400 in the last year.
The figure is not new — Prime Minister Gordon Brown mentioned it in July. But the official, Jonathan Evans, director general of MI5, went even further, saying there may be 2,000 more would-be terrorists not yet known to the authorities.
Speaking at a conference in Manchester, Mr. Evans also said that extremists in Britain were more likely than before to be connected to networks in other countries, and that they were increasingly grooming young people, including children, to carry out terrorist attacks. And in a reminder that even though the cold war has ended, some of the old conflicts persist, he complained that MI5 was being forced to divert resources from antiterrorism work “to defend the U.K. against unreconstructed attempts by Russia, China and others to spy on us.”
Mr. Evans’s stark assessment of the terrorist threat echoes remarks by his predecessor at MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, in November 2006. But it is still highly unusual for the chief of MI5, which so shuns publicity that it does not even have a press office, to speak publicly.
Opponents of the government, however, pointed out that the speech comes as Mr. Brown prepares to make new proposals for stricter antiterrorism laws. In July, Mr. Brown said he was considering introducing legislation that would increase the time that suspects could be detained without charge, to 56 days from the current 28.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
LONDON, Nov. 5 — Britain’s chief domestic intelligence official said Monday that at least 2,000 people in Britain posed a “direct threat to national security and public safety” because of their support for terrorism, an increase of 400 in the last year.
The figure is not new — Prime Minister Gordon Brown mentioned it in July. But the official, Jonathan Evans, director general of MI5, went even further, saying there may be 2,000 more would-be terrorists not yet known to the authorities.
Speaking at a conference in Manchester, Mr. Evans also said that extremists in Britain were more likely than before to be connected to networks in other countries, and that they were increasingly grooming young people, including children, to carry out terrorist attacks. And in a reminder that even though the cold war has ended, some of the old conflicts persist, he complained that MI5 was being forced to divert resources from antiterrorism work “to defend the U.K. against unreconstructed attempts by Russia, China and others to spy on us.”
Mr. Evans’s stark assessment of the terrorist threat echoes remarks by his predecessor at MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, in November 2006. But it is still highly unusual for the chief of MI5, which so shuns publicity that it does not even have a press office, to speak publicly.
Opponents of the government, however, pointed out that the speech comes as Mr. Brown prepares to make new proposals for stricter antiterrorism laws. In July, Mr. Brown said he was considering introducing legislation that would increase the time that suspects could be detained without charge, to 56 days from the current 28.
(Continued here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home