Britain raises international terror threat level (from 'Substantial' to 'Severe')

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 1/22/10 | Tim Pearce

[NormsRevenge]

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain raised its international terrorism threat level to 'severe' -- its second highest level of terror alert -- from 'substantial' on Friday, Home Secretary (interior minister) Alan Johnson said.

"The Joint Terrorism Analysis Center has today raised the threat to the UK from international terrorism from substantial to severe. This means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but I should stress that there is no intelligence to suggest than an attack is imminent," he said in a statement.

"JTAC keeps the threat level under constant review and makes its judgments based on a broad range of factors, including the intent and capabilities of international terrorist groups in the UK and overseas," the statement said.

Britain hosts an international conference on Afghanistan on January 28 that London says may set a timetable for transferring responsibility for some areas to Afghan control.

Those present will include Afghan President Hamid Karzai, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and foreign ministers of Afghanistan's other main partners.

It will be preceded by a January 27 meeting on Yemen, which declared war on al Qaeda last week under pressure for a crackdown on the global militant group after its Yemen-based wing said it was behind an attempt on December 25 to blow up a U.S. passenger jet.

[NormsRevenge]

Highly likely but not imminent

[AngelesCrestHighway]

“there is no intelligence to suggest than an attack is imminent”......but we’ll raise the threat level to severe just for the hell of it?.....MAJOR W.T.F.!

[NormsRevenge]

A Police officer and Community Support officer walking past two Muslim men in Birmingham. Muslim police have attacked the government's anti-terrorism strategy for triggering an upsurge in Islamophobia and deepening divisions in communities. (AFP/File/Paul Ellis)

[GonzoGOP]

Britain hosts an international conference on Afghanistan on January 28 that London says may set a timetable for transferring responsibility for some areas to Afghan control

Considering their current demographics I suspect those areas being transfered to Afghan control include the East End of London and a good size chunk of the channel coast.

[InterceptPoint]

This sounds serious. Maybe the Prez should get out of Washington. Oh, I almost forgot. The Prez is out of Washington.

[Gay State Conservative]

Is this legit or is it just part of Labour’s reelection campaign?

[NormsRevenge]

Home Secretary Alan Johnson, seen here on January 21, said Britain
raised its terror threat level from 'substantial' to 'severe' on Friday,
suggesting that an attack is "highly likely" (AFP/File/Javier Soriano)

[La Lydia]

".... Muslim police have attacked government's anti-terrorism strategy for triggering an upsurge in Islamophobia and deepening divisions in communities."

Or perhaps the upsurge in Islamophobia is a result of what the Muslim have been doing and saying in the UK.

[chiefqc]

When it becomes imminent, o-bow-man will be on another tax payers vacation because he tired.

[Leo Farnsworth]

Next up:

Impending

Destined

Forthcoming

[NormsRevenge]

Methinks Britain is already and has been under attack and is responding to its predicament accordingly.

Some folks, including courts and especially terrorists and religious fanatics, are upset that they are not free to spread their terror globally without question.

Too bad.

An armed police officer stands guard in London in 2006. The European Court of Human Rights has condemned British anti-terror legislation allowing people to be searched by police without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. (AFP/File/Leon Neal)

[Deo volente]

Meanwhile, Britain continues to let angry, young Muslim men enter the country by the thousands, set up their terror cells, and plot mass murder and mayhem.

I’m sure the British people feel much safer now that the terror threat has been officially deemed “severe” rather than “substantial”.

/sarc

[Braak]

First the terror alert in India...now this...something’s in the damn wind...

[The Comedian]

Upgraded from "Distinct and Unpleasant Possibility Which We Would Rather Not Contemplate" to "Virtually Without Doubt in an Impending Fashion and Certain To Cause a Bit of Bother".

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[Levante]

“...something’s in the damn wind...”

Yeah, the STENCH of Islam...

[Kommodor]

I wonder what it would take to raise the alert level to “Churchill”...

[Cindy]

Adding 1 thread to your thread Norm.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2435056/posts

“THREAT LEVELS [MI5 - UK]”
MI5.gov.co.uk ^ | Updated January 22, 2010 | n/a
Posted on January 22, 2010 2:05:44 PM PST by Cindy

[protest1]

Call me cynical but I am wondering what particular bad news or report the government is going to try to conceal while the press are looking the other way at this increased security alert?

[shove_it]

Over here, the treat has been raised from moave to fuscia.