“Berquist said the threat has become much harder to counter in the last couple of years with the shift in the modus operandi of terrorists in Europe and the West.”
By Simon Veazey; Epoch Times:
BIRMINGHAM, England—Khuram Butt had already demonstrated his extremist views for millions to see, over a year before he ran down pedestrians in London and butchered Saturday-night diners while chanting Islamist slogans.
Shown praying to an Islamist black flag in a 2016 documentary aired on British television, Butt had caught the attention of U.K. police, but was dropped from interest after questioning. The next time the police encountered the 27-year-old British citizen, it was to shoot him dead along with his two accomplices, halting eight minutes of terror that took eight lives and injured 48 in the London Bridge area.
The attack on June 3 was the third terrorist attack in the United Kingdom in nine weeks. Perpetrators of all three attacks were “home-grown extremists” previously known to security services, prompting questions about how authorities are handling the extremist threat.
The U.K.’s counterterrorism strategy relies heavily on maintaining close surveillance of suspected extremists.
The London Bridge attacker, Butt, was one of 20,000 people known to counterterrorism authorities for their extremist views, but wasn’t one of the 3,000 extremists under surveillance in the current 500 active investigations.
“You’ve got that list of 20,000 people, but there will be more that aren’t known,” said Drew Berquist, a counterterrorism expert for the U.S. intelligence community and founder of OpsLens, a website that provides daily commentary on national security issues.
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UK Prime Minister May’s Police Cuts Pose a Dangerous Risk Given Terrorist Attacks
By Brian Brinker; OpsLens:
British Prime Minister Theresa May has promised a strong response in light of the recent terrorist attacks. There’s only one problem: her efforts appear to focus more on Internet snooping, rather than beefing up the police force she herself has gutted. Worse yet, as of now, May intends to curb the United Kingdom’s police even further in the near future.
May, leader of the Conservative (AKA Tory) party, has already seen 19,000 police officers let go. With projected budgets, another 16,000 police are expected to be laid off in the months ahead. Despite the recent rash of terrorist attacks, England and Wales are on pace to have the smallest police force in 40 years. From September of 2010 to September of 2016, the police force in England and Wales shrunk by about 13%.
Scotland, which is largely outside of Tory control, actually saw its police force expand. Northern Ireland has suffered less severe cutbacks. So far, Scotland and Northern Ireland have been spared attacks, although it is not clear if that’s due to heavier police presence or because London and other English cities are simply bigger targets.
It should also be noted that the projections for future cuts have been provided by the opposing Labour Party. As such, they need to be taken with a grain of salt. Regardless, thousands of police officers have already been laid off in recent years, and Theresa May’s government appears to be doing little to stem the hemorrhaging.
The Labour Party has also claimed that May is looking to cut police budgets even further, which could shrink the force even more. Of course, it’s possible that the recent rash of terrorist attacks will cause May to reverse course, but so far the Tories’ leader has not hinted at any police force expansions.
Instead, May has proposed increased efforts to regulate and monitor the Internet. While this might seem like a logical next step given how crucial the web is for international terrorists, experts have noted that it is relatively easy for trained terrorists to sidestep most monitoring efforts.
To read rest of article visit OpsLens.
