MI5 to post terror threat level on the internet By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/10/nterr10.xml&; sSheet=/news/2006/07/10/ixuknews.html
The public is to be given more information about the terrorist threat levels facing the country under plans to be announced by John Reid, the Home Secretary, today. His initiative is likely to stop short of the routine release of colour-coded warnings that operate in America, which are often criticised as confusing and unduly alarmist. But ministers have accepted that greater openness is needed. The existing system of threat levels was introduced in 2003 after the Bali bombings led to complaints about the way international warnings had been framed. It has seven stages, ranging in seriousness from negligible to critical. The present threat level is 2(G) - severe general - which means that available intelligence and recent events indicate that terrorists have an established capability and current intent to mount an attack. It is also assessed that an attack is a priority for the terrorists and is likely to be mounted. A review of the system has been undertaken since the July 7 bomb attacks on London last year after it emerged that the threat level had been reduced only a few weeks earlier from "severe general" to "substantial". Threat levels are determined by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre and issued as part of a detailed MI5 report on terrorist groups that is circulated across Whitehall. These are used to inform decisions about the state of alert to be observed in defence establishments and Government departments. Such reports, which include details of terrorist groups, activities and intelligence sources, are highly classified and have limited circulation. However, summaries containing fewer details are produced with a far lower classification. They are more widely circulated but are still not made public. Mr Reid will announce a streamlined system of five warning categories, which will be posted on the Home Office and MI5 websites with advice to the public on what action to take. In America, the Homeland Security Department also has a five-tier system which is made public. The levels range from green (low), through yellow (elevated) to red (severe). However, the system has been widely derided because it is lowered and raised so regularly. Mr Reid's announcement coincides with fresh speculation about the background of the July 7 suicide bombers, a few days after the first anniversary of their attacks. A BBC documentary tomorrow will claim that Mohammed Siddique Khan, the ringleader, had previously met two British Muslims who went to Israel to carry out a suicide mission. It quotes an alleged witness, who has not come forward before, as saying that he collaborated with Omar Sharif, from Derby, and Hanif Asif, from Hounslow, north-west London, to recruit young Muslims for training camps in Afghanistan five years ago. Kursheed Fiaz, a businessman who runs an information technology company in Manchester, says that he had four or five meetings - the first in 2001 - with Khan, who was initially accompanied by Sharif and later by Asif. If true, this would have significant implications for the investigation into extremist jihadi groups, suggesting closer links than had been realised. However, this connection is unknown to police and MI5 officers who have been compiling a profile of Khan and his associates in the year since the London attacks. There is some scepticism about the claim among counter-terrorism specialists, not least that the operation mounted by the two Britons in Israel was carried out by Hamas, not al-Qa'eda. The Crown Prosecution Service is expected shortly to reveal its decision on whether to prosecute any police officers over the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent Brazilian man, at Stockwell Underground station, south London, last July. He was mistaken for a suicide bomber. _______________________________________________ Infowarrior mailing list [email protected] https://attrition.org/mailman/listinfo/infowarrior
