Posted on 11/09/2006 8:53:19 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
By Gordon Corera
BBC security correspondent
Eliza Manningham-Buller rarely speaks in public
MI5 knows of 30 terror plots and is keeping 1,600 individuals under surveillance, the security service's head has said.
In a speech to academics Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller said the terror threat was "serious" and "growing" and would be "with us for a generation".
She warned future terrorists could mount chemical or nuclear attacks.
Tory security spokesman Patrick Mercer said the UK needed more "spooks and secret agents" to tackle the problem.
Hard choices
MI5 has increased in size by nearly 50% since 9/11 and now stands at roughly 2,800 staff.
But according to Dame Eliza the concern is that even with this rapid growth it will not be able to investigate nearly enough of the activity that is currently under way in the UK. She said hard choices would have to be made about resources.
"I wish life were like Spooks [the TV series] where everything is, a, knowable, and, b, soluble by six people," she explained.
Tomorrow's threat may - I suggest will - include the use of chemicals, bacteriological agents, radioactive materials and even nuclear technology
Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller
Dame Eliza's warning comes days after a UK man was sentenced to at least 40 years in jail for planning a series of attacks.
Attacks planned by Dhiren Barot, 34, from London, included using a so-called "dirty bomb" using radioactive material.
Dame Eliza, who rarely speaks in public, gave a speech to a small audience on Thursday morning, detailing what she believes her organisation and the UK is facing.
'Attacks thwarted'
She said that, since the 7 July bombings, five further major conspiracies in the UK had been thwarted.
"Today, my officers and the police are working to contend with some 200 groupings or networks, totalling over 1,600 identified individuals - and there will be many we don't know - who are actively engaged in plotting, or facilitating, terrorist acts here and overseas," she said.
"What we see at the extreme end of the spectrum are resilient networks, some directed from al-Qaeda in Pakistan, some more loosely inspired by it, planning attacks including mass casualty suicide attacks in the UK.
I wish life were like Spooks [the TV series] where everything is, a, knowable, and, b, soluble by six people
Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller
"Today we see the use of home-made improvised explosive devices.
"Tomorrow's threat may - I suggest will - include the use of chemicals, bacteriological agents, radioactive materials and even nuclear technology."
Out of the 200 or so groups being watched by MI5, a smaller subset are of the highest priority because its feared that they are plotting actual attacks.
"We are aware of numerous plots to kill people and to damage our economy. What do I mean by numerous? Five? Ten?
"No, nearer 30 that we currently know of.
"These plots often have linked back to al-Qaeda in Pakistan and through those links al-Qaeda gives guidance and training to its largely British foot soldiers here on an extensive and growing scale."
Of the 30 plots some may turn out to be less credible or advanced but it's hard to be sure until they are fully investigated. And that takes resources.
MI5 has increased in size by nearly 50% since 9/11
Dame Eliza said: "We cannot focus on everything so we have to decide on a daily basis with the police and others where to focus our energies, whom to follow, whose telephone lines need listening to, which seized media needs to go to the top of the analytic pile.
"Because of the sheer scale of what we face - my service has seen an 80% increase in casework since January - the task is daunting.
"We shan't always make the right choices. And we recognise we shall have scarce sympathy if we are unable to prevent one of our targets committing an atrocity."
'Real threat'
Dame Eliza has been Director General of MI5 since 2002 and, prior to that, deputy director general for five years and has spent 32 years in the UK intelligence community.
She acknowledged the fact that some people accuse her organisation and others of hyping up the threat and that people are reluctant to accept assertions that do no always appear to be substantiated.
But she argued that while it was right to be sceptical about intelligence, the threat was real.
Young teenagers are being groomed to be suicide bombers
Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller
A particular concern expressed by the security service chief was the need to deal with radicalisation - especially amongst the young.
"It is the youth who are being actively targeted, groomed, radicalised and set on a path that frighteningly quickly could end in their involvement in mass murder of their fellow UK citizens," she warned.
"Young teenagers are being groomed to be suicide bombers."
Trying to identify people of school age who might be undergoing radicalisation presents particular problems for the security service.
Massoud Shadjareh, of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, accepted there was a terrorist threat but said it had to be put into perspective.
"Over 1,000 arrests have been made under anti-terrorism since 9/11 and out of those, 27 have been found guilty. Out of those 27, only nine have been Muslims," he said.
Back to business....everyone...
The dems are going to setup a department of peace. Problem solved.
and how will Pelosi, Kerry, Murtha and Co tackle this problem? By cutting spending and showing more "compassion"? to the terrorist gripes?
McGovern to Meet With Congress on War
His quote:
"The best way to reduce this insurgency is to get the American forces out of there," McGovern said. "That's what's driving this insurgency."
bump
Tony Blankley must have known he was coming....see this:
McGovern to Meet With Congress on War
***************
And we have a quote:
"The best way to reduce this insurgency is to get the American forces out of there," McGovern said. "That's what's driving this insurgency."
Here is what Tony had to say:
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In future columns I will write on the fate of our Iraq policy in a Washington world turned upside down. It won't be pretty.
Leaving Iraq just means IED's on I-95 instead of Baghdad.
Nah. Look to Europe...they'll take the slam-dunk first. Besides, they already have the manpower on the job site. Europe will be under Sharia law in about 25 years or so. Our big battle will come with a nuclear armed calipate.
Time to start testing in Nevada again for some improved models....
We don't have the societal will to defend ourselves.
Latest asset for the Terrorists = Democrat control of the Congress.
We're safe. The dems are in charge now.
"The best way to reduce this insurgency is to get the American forces out of there," McGovern said. "That's what's driving this insurgency."
Brilliant. First, I don't believe it's an insurgency. It's currently the front in the war on terror. It's not going to go away. It will just move into Europe and the U.S. Where are we going to pull out from then?
Maybe it takes a rocket scientist to see this, but I didn't think I was one.
Send the Pakis back to Pakistan, unless they are already well-assimilated.
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