BRITAIN
A SECURITY review warns that Britain could face a greater threat from Islamist terrorism over the next two years.
Intelligence experts fear battle-hardened jihadis in Syria are dispersing to set up cells elsewhere from which to plot attacks on the West.
There are also concerns that die-hard fanatics could try to come back to Britain to carry out massacres.
These factors, on top of concerns that youngsters at home are being easily radicalised on the internet, point to a heightened terror threat.
The assessment comes after MI5 chief Andrew Parker recently warned that the terror threat was already the worst he had ever seen in his 34-year career.
A security shake-up detailed in the National Security Capability Review, states: ‘We expect the threat from Islamist terrorism to remain at its current heightened level for at least two years and it might increase further.’
The review comes in the wake of five terror attacks on British soil last year and this month’s nerve-agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury.
In other details from the review, it can be disclosed that:
. The UK will introduce a ‘fusion doctrine’ to use military, financial, cultural and diplomatic clout to quash threats;
. ‘Unprecedented’ levels of intelligence were shared with allies after Salisbury to make the case for action against Russia;
. Russia, Iran and North Korea are identified as the key state-based threats;
. So-called ‘soft power’ such as the BBC’s World Service and social media will be used to tackle misinformation.
The review outlines the threats facing the UK and how the Government plans to deal with them.
In it, Theresa May states: ‘Every part of our Government and every one of our agencies has its part to play. As long as we defend our interests and stand up for our values, there will continue to be those who seek to undermine or attack us. But these people should be in no doubt that we will use every capability at our disposal to defeat them.
‘Over the past year we have witnessed appalling terrorist attacks in London and Manchester. But also a brazen and reckless act of aggression on the streets of Salisbury: Attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon, amounting to an unlawful use of force against the UK.’
She said national security depended on not only the police, security services and the Armed Forces, but ‘on our ability to mobilise… the full range of our capabilities in concert’.
The nerve-agent attack in Salisbury shows just how important it was to counter propaganda from Russia. The Kremlin had put out more than 20 stories to confuse the picture.
On top of this, up to 2,800 Russian bots – computer programmes that generate posts on social media – are thought to have tried to sow confusion after the poison attack by spreading deliberately fake information. Officials have feared for months that IS jihadists defeated in Iraq and Syria could morph into a new terror group.
But the danger from Islamist extremists moving into other regions seems likely to increase the threat to British citizens. There are, for example, cells in Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia, as well as those remnants that remain in Syria and Iraq. There is no doubt that they will seek to project out.
The biggest shift in the terrorist threat comes from those who have been radicalised in their own communities and through their interactions in cyber space.
. Russia can take fight to space
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, Head of the RAF, warns that Russia could defy international rules by attacking in space.
THE UK must be ready to confront Russia in space as technology opens a new frontier, the head of the RAF has said.
In the wake of the Salisbury nerve-agent attack, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier warned that Moscow could defy rules to attack in space.
He said enemy states were developing space weapons capable of destroying satellites and jamming GPS signals.
The Chief of the Air Staff said the RAF needed to be able to combat such threats. At the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, he said: “We have potential adversaries like Russia who are disregarding the rules-based international system and exploiting environments in whatever way they feel they can to their advantage. I don’t foresee a war in space, but I can see us being contested for use of space and for people trying to deny some of our specific capabilities.
“We already see that to a significant degree and we need to be prepared to deal with that threat.”
His warning of intensifying threats from Russia comes ahead of the publication of a defence review in the summer.
Weapons could affect the ability of aircraft to operate, cripple satnavs and shut down maps on mobile phones.
Consumers could also be stopped from using cashpoints and online banking because such activities rely on satellites and time signals.
Sir Stephen said: “We could look at it and say, ‘Yes that is the theory, but they wouldn’t do it, would they?’ Well they would never launch a nerve-agent on a city in the United Kingdom, would they? But they did. So, we need to be ready for those situations.” Pentagon experts believe Russia and China are developing lasers and missiles that could take out satellites in low-earth orbit, according to reports.
Sir Stephen also hit out at Russia for its use of a military grade nerve agent, as well as the “criminal activities of the Russian state in cyberspace”.
He said: “The post-war consensus that has provided the basis for the rules-based international order is being challenged and undermined.
“We must respond, collectively with our NATO and other partners, to counter hostile acts by Russia against our countries, our interests and our values.”
It comes as Western capitals brace for Kremlin reprisals after the list of British allies kicking out Russian spies over the Salisbury attack grew to 27.
Ireland, Belgium, Macedonia and Moldova have joined the list while NATO said it would cut the Russian delegation at its headquarters by ten.
Moscow has threatened a “tough response” to the expulsions.
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