Law enforcement agencies are on constant high alert. They shoulder the heavy burden of responsibility for protecting a vulnerable public and must continually monitor for threats to domestic and international security.

To combat this threat, an all-encompassing approach to threat detection and defence is crucial.

The evolving threat

Terrorism is a multi-faceted threat that can take on numerous different forms, including cyber, financial and digital.

At one end of the spectrum of physical terrorism, there are established terrorist cells made up of networks of individuals all united in the common goal of spreading panic, fear and destruction. This is achieved through committing acts of extreme violence, usually on a large and public scale. These types of attacks tend to be meticulously planned ahead of time and require cross-border coordination in the form of communications and financial transfers. These interactions leave a trail, making it easier for counter terror operatives to uncover plots.

At the other end of the physical threat and terrorism spectrum are the smaller scale attacks from lone agents, which have become more prevalent in recent years. As a result of their low-tech, unpredictable nature, these types of physical attacks are more difficult to detect and interrupt due to their randomness in timing and place. Unlike larger, more organised attacks, the communication and support required from outside groups is minimal for these lone agent attacks, meaning the communications or financial trail is negligible.

Furthermore, as stated earlier, these lone individuals can launch the attack at their own will at any place and any time, eliminating the need for advance planning, reducing opportunities for interception and adding a degree of volatile spontaneity that makes these attacks incredibly dangerous.

Today’s counter-terrorism and security communities are skilled in uncovering large plots, but lone actor attacks, although less sophisticated, can prove just as destructive and are far more difficult to disrupt.

Where is this happening?

The shattering consequences of lone actor terrorism have been felt across Europe. Perhaps the most devastating attack in the UK was in Manchester in May 2017, when a suicide bomber entered the Manchester Arena and detonated a bomb, tragically killing 22 people, including children, and injuring many more. This is just one example of terrorists targeting defenceless crowds to inflict maximum harm.

Venues such as the Manchester Arena are soft targets that don’t always have extensive security measures in place. It’s clear they need protecting, but to avoid creating a fortress-like environment, this must be done in a non-intrusive way that does not infringe too heavily on people’s convenience or their privacy. What is needed is a low-profile, non-obstructive system that is adaptable enough to be deployed across a range of environments.

Proactive vs reactive

The UK invests millions of pounds a year in public security. It relies heavily on camera surveillance as a way of monitoring for criminal activity. In places such as the Underground, fixed security systems would cause chaotic congestion and leave people feeling imprisoned by inconvenience. In this instance, camera surveillance is an excellent way to acquire intelligence, but the drawback is that it’s a largely retrospective measure that isn’t effective at flagging threats ahead of time.

As well as congestion and inefficiency, a danger of fixed security systems, such as security checkpoints, is that they can become targets for attack. Only recently, an attack on security posts in west Afghanistan left 21 people dead.

The key to preventing future attacks does not lie in reactive measures like security cameras and fortifications. In today’s environment, where a lone attacker with a knife or gun can wreak chaos in an instant, a new approach to security is needed. This approach must move beyond over-fortification and embrace a more proactive and reactive model. In order to preserve the goodwill of the public, the system must be unobtrusive and discrete.

The role of technology

The future of public security is reliant on an approach that incorporates people, policy and technology to deliver a cost-effective, low- profile, integrated solution.

This may sound unfeasible, but technology now exists that allows for exactly this. In practice, the system can adapt to suit the environment it is trying to protect. For example, video recognition systems enhanced by AI-powered object recognition software are deployed to identify and flag forbidden objects in locations such as school entrances or train stations.

Video AI technologies can detect fights, disturbances, and unusual behaviours.  Technologies that integrate machine learning and radar sensors can scan individuals and bags for large mass casualty threat objects, such as rifles and bombs. In addition, there are sensor technologies that can detect trace chemicals, such as gunpowder, explosives and chemical agents in parts per trillion from simply sniffing the air at stand-off, helping security track and stop lone attackers before they take action.

All these technologies can be integrated into a complete platform monitoring system that connects all threat solutions to a security operations centre, which is monitored by trained professionals.

Combined, these systems can provide an all-encompassing, proactive security model that can be easily deployed across a range of venues to prevent attacks, making people feel safer. For soft targets such as music venues and transport systems, this is an attractive way to safeguard the public without causing mass obstruction.

Security threats are continually evolving and only by adopting a multi-sensor approach can such a wide spectrum of threats be truly mitigated. There is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution, but rather security systems that can be tailored to the environment they are protecting.

Terrorists will exploit technology to their own benefit, and it is critical that our security systems do the same to stay ahead of threats.

Martin Cronin  CEO, Patriot One

See also:

Strategy for corporate security: Sir David Veness

Prevent: Safeguarding vulnerable people

All related articles in our Counter Terrorism category and Security Technology Category in particular, Analytics, Facial Recognition and Integrated Security

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Help is at hand, or rather in your hand as a smartphone app or paper pocket guide. The citizenAID® system has been developed by clinicians from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, drawing on their extensive experience of treating the seriously injured from combat operations over the last 20 years. citizenAID® draws together public safety advice, including the police “Run-Hide-Tell” messaging, with context-specific first aid advice to keep the seriously injured alive while waiting for assistance. The citizenAID®app with advice for those involved in a terrorist attack is free to download.

If you were caught up in a terrorist attack, would you know what to do?

The current threat from international terrorism, in the UK, is set as severe. Since the 7/7 London bombings in 2005 we have seen an increase in the number of attacks and a diversity of the types, specifically targeting civilians in marauding or vehicle-based attacks.

Immediately following an attack, it can take time before the scene can be made safe for the emergency services to reach victims. In the past, a hostage or victims’ location was referred to as the “hot zone”. “Victim nests” is now a more accurate description that recognises the rolling carpet approach to extrication, whereby police and firearms officers clear a zone, followed by the inundation of emergency responders to undertake ‘triage’ (from the French meaning ‘to sort’) into priorities for care and provide immediate, often life-saving, treatment.

Reaching the casualties and providing treatment can and will take time for the professionals, but time is not what a victim has if they have a major bleed. Stopping bleeding is crucial during the “platinum 10 minutes”. It is estimated that almost a third of all trauma deaths are preventable with timely treatment. But the only people who can act to make a difference are those who are present at the point of injury. This is why the public need to know what to do. Simple knowledge and skills training can, literally, save lives. citizenAID® provides this advice for those involved in a terrorist attack.

Step by Step Guide for those involved in a terrorist attack

Preparation improves performance. citizenAID® guides you to be vigilant and aware of your surroundings. If you find an unattended or suspicious package you are told what to do. While “Run-Hide-Tell” applies to immediate actions in an active shooting or knife attack situation, “Control then ACT” (Assess-Communicate-Triage) are the immediate actions following an explosion or vehicle attack.

Advice on what to communicate to the emergency services is given in the SLIDE mnemonic (Situation, Location, Injured Numbers, Dangers, Emergency Services) and advice on what to say to the paramedics when they arrive is in the MIST mnemonic (Mechanism, Injuries found, Signs & Symptoms, Treatment given). Treatment focuses on simple, key skills that will save life and emphasises that if you don’t have any equipment it is OK to improvise. The charity has designed its own low-cost device (the Tourni-Key™) that can convert a tie, a scarf or a triangular bandage into a life-saving tourniquet for limb bleeding that cannot be controlled by pressure.

UK and beyond

citizenAID® was founded in 2016 and received independent charitable status in December 2017. It has been supported by the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, emergency services, Royal Colleges and the British Medical Association. citizenAID® has grown support across the UK and worldwide; it is already firmly established in the USA, with wide European interest and development in progress.

Award winning

In 2017 the app received an “Innovation Award” from the Academic Health Science Network. citizenAID® was named the national “Counter Terror Project Award” winner in 2018, and the primary school book Moggy’s Coming received the “Most Innovative Product of the Year” award at the 2018 Business Continuity Awards.

Children

Moggy’s Coming is a cartoon storybook of a cat loose in a school of mice. It introduces the “Run, Hide, Tell” (and a degree of supervised “Treat”) message to young schoolchildren (Key Stage 1). But it is an allegory. It doesn’t talk about terrorism. It allows understanding of the broader principles of what children can do in the unlikely event that someone tries to hurt them.

For older primary school children (Key Stage 2), there is the Lion on the Loose cartoon series, which uses a picture sequence to prompt discussion. These materials are currently being introduced to schools in Scotland. For the secondary school children, citizenAID® has produced materials for the national STEM initiative (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) that describe the science behind stopping bleeding and the technology of a tourniquet.

Where can I find out more?

The citizenAID® website www.citizenaid.org has news and videos that can help you better understand the system. The app can be downloaded free through Google Play and the App Store. The Tourni-Key™, Moggy’s Coming book and the paper pocket guide can all be purchased from the charity’s online shop.

Where can I get training?

Public events have been running across the UK. We are currently planning a student event in Birmingham and a further one in Scotland. There is an accredited 3-hour course available through Qualsafe providers. Free training materials are available to registered volunteer instructors and our Ambassadors.

For more information or to get involved with the campaign contact info@citizenaid.org

We look forward to hearing from you!

Aurélie Hay-David Trauma & Orthopaedic Registrar, West of Scotland, and

Capt Jonathan Herron, Medical Officer, 3 Medical Regiment.

citizenAID® Ambassadors

See also:

Advice for Employees caught in in a terrorist attack

Tracking Apps – saving life or limb

The post citizenAID® app – advice if involved in a terrorist attack appeared first on City Security Magazine.

A key component of effective counter terrorism strategy and tactics is good intelligence. Many security professionals receive regular updates from around the world on situations and events that may impact their organisations due to their geographical location, political or economic links or the business they undertake. This article is an example of the kind of security intelligence review that is available: it is correct at time of publication but, of course, this type of information changes daily.

#1 – Southern Border – United States

The government shutdown in the US stretched near to a month; the security and immigration controls that President Trump says he’s fighting to improve came close to fracturing as a result of the impasse. An estimated 800,000 federal employees, many of them from the border and national security agencies, worked without pay. The impasse over the president’s demand for $5.7 billion for a controversial wall at the southern border and the Democrats’ refusal to fund it show no sign of finding a compromise. Over 5,200 US troops were originally sent to the border and if the president decides to call a national emergency, this number could significantly increase.

#2 – Washington DC – United States

United States President Donald Trump will hold a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un around the end of February but sanctions on Pyongyang will remain in place. The announcement came after a meeting in the Oval Office between Mr. Trump and Kim Yong-chol, the former North Korean intelligence chief, who has acted as the top nuclear negotiator for Mr Kim. President Trump, who had made a celebratory attendance after a meeting with the intelligence chief last year to announce his first meeting with Mr. Kim, did not attend the meeting this time around. Reports have been mixed over the current nuclear activity in North Korea since the first summit; what is clear is that there has still been little tangible evidence of a move or willingness to disarm.

#3 – Ceará – Brazil

Troops from Brazil’s National Police Force have been deployed in the northeastern state of Ceará to attempt to end the wave of violent attacks by criminal gangs against banks, retail outlets and other Government establishments. Around 300 members of the force arrived in the state capital, Fortaleza, and more than tenother cities across Ceará in early January in a bid to halt the rampage which has spiked recently, national Public Security Secretary Guilherme Teophilo said. New Brazilian President Bolsonaro, a former military officer, has made domestic security, local corruption and the eradication of gangs a priority.

#4 – Bogotá – Colombia

A car bomb exploded at a police academy in Colombia’s capital, Bogota on 17th January, killing at least ten people and wounding over 50 in an attack that created fears of a return to the country’s recent violent past. Authorities said the car broke through checkpoints into the grounds of the General Santander School where it exploded. It was the deadliest attack in Bogota since the government agreed a peace deal with the Marxist FARC rebel group in 2016; the group has been active since 1964. President Duque described the explosion as a “crazy terrorist act” against unarmed cadets and said he had ordered police and the military to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

#5 – LondonDerry – Northern Ireland

Four men in their twenties have been arrested in connection with the explosion on the evening of Saturday 19th January outside the city’s courthouse. Leading the inquiry, Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton told the media, “Fortunately, it didn’t kill anybody but clearly it was a very significant attempt to kill people here in this community.” The New IRA, one of the groups opposing the Good Friday Agreement that fundamentally ended over 25 years of violence in the province, and have in recent years been described as the biggest threat to peace in the Province. The blast on the 19th came at a time when police in both Northern Ireland and European Union-member Ireland have been concerned that the threat of a reappearance of a hard border between the two after Brexit could see an opportunity for sectarian groups. Following this attack, the security services also carried out a controlled explosion on a abandoned van that had been left outside a school and reported there had been an attempt to hijack a bus.

#6 –  Berlin – Germany

February saw the completion of the world’s largest intelligence centre in Berlin as the new €1billion home of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) finally opened, twelve years from its initial conception. The project represents a new era of emphasis in Germany of state security, with 4,000 staff now in residence and the requirement for security intelligence reviews.

#7 –  Istanbul – Turkey

Ans Boersma 31, a Dutch journalist with Het Financieele Dagblad, a Dutch main business daily, was detained on 16th January after trying to renew her residency. A statement by the communications director of the Turkish presidency said, “The Turkish authorities have recently received intelligence from the Dutch police that Ms Boersma had links to a designated terrorist organisation and a request for information about her movements in and out of Turkey.” Since the 2016 attempted coup, President Erdogan has jailed thousands of journalists, teachers, academics, legal and human rights activists. Human rights defenders have raised concerns over the ongoing suppression on freedom of speech in Turkey under Erdogan.

#8 – Nairobi – Kenya

At least 21 people are now known to have been killed when members of the Islamist group al-Shabaab stormed a luxury hotel complex in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. A 19-hour siege of the DusitD2 hotel and business complex on Tuesday ended with five attackers killed. The actions of an off-duty British SAS soldier who played a key part in the rescue of civilians have been well reported. The attack also shows the capability and continued offensive nature of the Islamist group, which has been operational in East Africa since 2006.

#9 – Mogadishu – Somalia

Al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for two attacks: a car bomb in the capital that killed eleven, leaving another ten injured and the killing of Anthony Formosa, who was the construction project manager for DP World, a firm that has invested in Somalia. The attack highlights the current dangers of business operations, with al-Shabaab claiming in a statement that the attack was, “part of broader operations targeting the mercenary companies that loot the Somali resources”.

#10 Borno State – Nigeria

The United Nations has said it is “extremely alarmed” by the forced return by Cameroon of thousands of refugees to north-east Nigeria, where Boko Haram Islamists pose a seemingly enduring threat to civilians. Cameroon has 370,000 refugees, 100,000 of whom are Nigerians, according to the UNHCR. Earlier this month, more than 9,000 people fled to Cameroon after an attack on a military base and aid buildings in the town of Rann in north-east Nigeria’s Borno state. The attack was blamed on the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) faction of Boko Haram, which has carried out similar raids against troops since July last year. Despite continued rhetoric from the President and numerous military operations, there seems little reduction in the ability of Boko Haram and we can expect them to maintain a considerable threat throughout 2019.

#11 Manbij – Syria

On 16th January a suicide bomber killed four US citizens, two of whom serving soldiers, at a market in northern Syria, less than a month after President Donald Trump declared victory over Islamic State in the region. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in the town of Manbij. The attack confounds the sudden plan for the US. withdrawal, a decision Trump’s senior advisers disagreed with before offering an evolving timetable for the removal of the approximately 2,000 US troops. The bombing also underscores Pentagon assertions that the Islamic State is still a threat capable of deadly attacks. There has been little evidence amongst the counter terrorism community to support the president’s assumptions and there has been analysis suggesting the group is active in more countries today than at the height of the Caliphate. A recently published Pentagon report also warns that the US withdrawal from Syria could result in IS reclaiming lost territory. This area will continue to be the focus of security intelligence reviews.

#12 Kandahar – Afghanistan

Five serving members of the Afghan security forces were killed when their checkpoint came under sustained attack by insurgents in the southern province of Kandahar on the 11th January. Aziz Ahmad Azizi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said that two other policemen were wounded in the attack in the Spin Bolduk district. He said seven Taliban insurgents were killed and six were wounded in the fighting. Qari Yusouf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack in Kandahar. In a separate attack in western Herat province, gunmen attacked a city police station on Saturday evening, killing another five people, said Gelani Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Since the withdrawal of the substantive coalition force, ISAF, in 2014, the Taliban have continued to reassert their authority and the pattern of IEDs, suicide bombers and attacks has continued.

#13 Jakarta – Indonesia

Abu Bakar Bashir, the radical Muslim cleric and supposed mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings, may be granted early release from jail on humanitarian grounds. Bashir, 81, who is widely believed to be the spiritual leader of the Islamist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), was convicted in 2010 under anti-terrorism laws for links to militant training camps in Aceh province and jailed for fifteen years. Indonesia continues to try to counter on-going terrorism, and operations remain active. The Tinombala police-military operation to track down members of the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) terrorist group in Poso, Central Sulawesi, has been extended once again. The latest extension to the joint operation was made in December 2018 and will last until April 2019, making it one of the longest terrorist manhunts in the Reform Era.

#14 – Australia

Suspected Islamic State member Neil Prakash, who was born in Australia to a Fijian father and a Cambodian mother, will not be allowed into Fiji since he “does not qualify”, the South Pacific country’s prime minister has declared. The 27-year-old, currently held in a Turkish prison and facing terrorism charges, was stripped of his Australian citizenship, something that can only happen to dual citizens. In response to reports claiming that Prakash may be heading to Fiji after his release, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said that he “cannot come here because he does not qualify”. This has raised questions over the stripping of citizenship as many thousands of fighters try to return home from the Levant or are being left to local jurisdiction, such as the British militants nicknamed ‘the Beatles’.

This security intelligence review compiled by Edward Marsh, National Security & Terrorism Analyst

References gathered for this security intelligence review from both open and primary sources from 1st January to 13th February 2019.

The post Security Intelligence Review – Spring 2019 appeared first on City Security Magazine.

Will 2019 prove be a pivotal year for security and counter-terror forces in the UK?

As Brexit moves into the final planning stage, and we have gained full oversight of what the 2019 budget will look like, decision makers will be working hard for the year ahead.

Philip Hammond MP recently announced that counter-terror police in the UK would receive £160m in additional funding and, whilst perhaps there will never be enough, even in the austere times we live in, our counter-terror forces welcome this funding.

Rightly so, the UK Police have presented the message: We cannot do everything, alone. So, who can? Neil Basu, the Chief of Counter-Terrorism Policing, will look to make very tough decisions about how this money is spent, in a time where grass-roots policing could be more important than ever to build communities, stamp out hate crime and encourage a collective responsibility for our own safety.

This need for a collectivist society will be more pertinent than ever before, because the biggest threat to 2019 is the influx of radicalised UK and European individuals coming back from the now felled ISIS. On a community level, these evils are best defeated through community spirit; we’ve seen how religiously driven hate speech has led to the rise of politically driven hate speech, and vice versa. On an operational level, information is the key to combatting this threat.

Any increase of potential threats crossing the border should put the agenda of information sharing at the forefront of all counter-terror forces, and that’s why any Brexit deal must continue to allow the flow of information between mainland Europe and the UK.

It’s hard to see a world where operations and preparations are not intelligence driven, and while the proliferation of monitoring technologies have made aspects of an officer’s work easier, much of the cross-departmental training and preparedness remains the same, as this is the ‘bread and butter’ work for the people protecting our country.

I believe that industry and our emergency services must share their expert insights and innovations to make sure we are as protected as ever before. My role as an advisor for SCTX 2019 will encourage like-minded experts to come and share their insights across the entire security and counter-terror landscape, on an international stage – developing conversation and helping sculpt the future.

Commander Robert James Broadhurst OBE QPM – Security and Counter Terror Expo 2019 Advisory Board member https://www.counterterrorexpo.com

The post Security and counter-terror in 2019 appeared first on City Security Magazine.

We have been lucky in 2018 after the terror that tore across Europe and the UK in 2016 – 2017 with vehicle, knife and bomb attacks happening in Nice, London Bridge, Westminster, Manchester and Barcelona.  These are just a few of the places left reeling from a wave of extremism targeting people going about their normal lives and enjoying themselves.  The often crudeness of the weaponry used belies the sophistication of many of the attacks.

2018 has been successful for the security services with a number of attacks being stopped, but the UK Counter Terror Police continue to remind everyone that they have approximately 600 active investigations going on with over 3000 people of immediate concern and another 20,000 on their radar!

State-Blamed attacks

2017 was marked by some of the most virulent global cyber-attacks with Wannacry infecting more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries disabling parts of the UK’s health care in the NHS, the Spanish Telecoms giant, Telefonica and FedEx.  North Korea was blamed for this incident.

In another state blamed attack, Russia was blamed for unleashing the NotPetya attack on the globe which hit many government systems in the Ukraine and elsewhere but had a massive impact on global logistics with the shipping giant Maersk falling victim and having to shut down its terminals in 4 different countries for a number of weeks costing the company an estimated $200 million in losses.

In addition, whilst not a terror attack, we saw the first use of the colourless, odourless, virtually undetectable nerve agent Novichok, used on the streets of the small, sleepy English city of Salisbury. The attack, against a former Russian intelligence officer who defected to the West, Sergei Skripal, resulted in 7 people being contaminated and one dying.  The British government quickly blamed the Russians and the international community followed suit.

GDPR impact

2018 has seen a development of the threat environment with the introduction of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) meaning that data breaches could well have huge implications for companies that suffer them with a €20 Million or 4% or global annual turnover fine brining additional focus to the cyber security environment.

Terror videos and propaganda

At the same time, ISIS and Al Qaeda terror videos and propaganda were advocating the use of drones against crowded places, during the FIFA World Cup in Russia an ISIS propaganda video was released in which the terrorist group claim that they would attack with drone bombs. The recipe and design for chemical weapons and chemical dispersion devices is freely available in the extremist circles according to Aimen Dean, a former MI6 spy inside Al Qaeda in his book ‘Nine Lives.’

Keeping up-to-date with Countering Terrorism in 2018

Andrew Parker the Director General of MI5 said in May this year that, “Europe faces an intense, unrelenting and multidimensional international terrorist threat. Daesh continues to pose the most acute threat, but Al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorist groups haven’ gone away.”

Keeping abreast of the threats, the countermeasures, the developing technologies, having a platform to discuss and share best practice is always a challenge for the security community.  This is where Peter Jones, the CEO of Nineteen Events comes in.  He recently said in a blog, “all I want to do, with my team, is something to help make it a little less chaotic and bring the chance of a little more safety and security. If I can do that, then it is all worth it and will leave the world a little better for my loved ones!”  This is his mantra behind the International Security Expo.

What many don’t realise is a big part of his team consists of 40 Advisory Council members who come from all aspects of the security community including Government, Industry & Academia, all at senior levels and they assist in the development of International Security Expo and help shape the content to attract the highest calibre visitors.

That content is delivered in 12 free to attend conferences held over the 2 days and these conferences include: Retail, Hotel, Education, Maritime and Transport, CNI, Crisis Response and Business Continuity, Protecting Crowded Places, Night-time economy, Designing Out Terrorism, Cyber, Data and Information Security, Aviation and Border security and finally Facilities Management security.  Some of the speakers come from the Advisory Council but many are industry leaders in these spheres and are not generally on many conference circuits.

The International Security Expo provides a unique platform for the entire security industry to come together to source products, share experience and gain the knowledge needed to address current and emerging security challenges. It and all of the conferences are free-to-attend and unite the entire security community allowing shared learning and collaboration from Government, CNI, Law Enforcement, Military, Major Events, Transport & Borders, Cyber Security, Facilities and Public and Private sectors.

A key theme running through the two days of the expo is that of innovation and many new technologies will be on display, ranging from a cost effective British built drone with thermal and optical zoom cameras that has a flight time of an hour, to the Protecting Urban Spaces feature.  This new immersive demonstration area will showcase physical products, technologies and have live scenarios to illustrate how urban spaces can be protected from mass casualty terrorist attacks.

Given its ambition, the UK Government has come on board in strength and forms the core of the Government Agency and Department zone. The USA, Canada, China and the EU all have their own zones but it is expected that representatives from over 50 countries across the globe will attend the event. In fact, over 12,500 are confidently expected to attend over the 2 days, the networking alone will be amazing.

With the rapidly changing threat landscape the one place to come for 2 days to be brought up to speed with everything that is needed, is the International Security Expo. This is one not to miss. Visit internationalsecurityexpo.com for further details and register to attend the free conference series.

Philip Ingram MBE

The post Keeping up with the changing face of security appeared first on City Security Magazine.

Having recently completed the move from policing to a consulting role with Axis Security, I find myself reflecting on the current terrorist threats, and more importantly, how we ensure that the security industry is ready to face and mitigate them.

Ensuring the security sector is ready to face the terrorist threat

A significant aspect of this move for me is gaining a full understanding of the drivers and demands on the security industry, and how these key influences vary from those I am used to in policing. Within policing, budgets were clearly important, as were reduced staffing levels, but so was the flexible response to new and changing threats and their prioritisation. I am conscious that the security sector is not a public body and therefore has somewhat different drivers. The personal challenge I have is how to transfer my experience and knowledge from one to the other.

In these rapidly changing times it is more important than ever that the security industry continues to innovate and adapt to new and emerging risks and threats. As has been much publicised, 2017 saw an unprecedented rise in the number of terrorist attacks and investigations. The nature of the threats may have become less sophisticated, with less complicated forms of attack, but these can often be some of the toughest to mitigate. These are clear reminders that there can be no place for complacency.

Improving professionalism

Much has been done in recent years to improve the professionalism and capability of security personnel and the industry, whilst building on the key partnership with policing.  Within policing it is widely acknowledged that they cannot be the panacea to assuage public concerns about safety. This follows years of government-led austerity measures which have, in turn, led to increased challenges for both the security industry and policing.

Some of the significant foundations for the security and police partnership have been born from initiatives starting in the City of London.  Long may that tradition continue. I think the greatest examples are Project Griffin and Project Servator, both of which have been adopted nationally and are subject of continued interest from overseas.

At the same time, it is important to highlight the significant numbers of suspected hostile reconnaissance reports the police continue to receive from the security sector. Security personnel continue to be key contributors to this overall intelligence picture. As ever, the mantra for such reports is notify the police at the outset to give them a chance to intercept the individuals at that time.

With Servator now evolving through ReAct (recognise, engage, act), training and awareness will be delivered to security professionals to enhance joint deployments across wider footprints to detect and deter nefarious activity. Such deployments will also be a very public statement that the security industry and policing are very much working together to protect the nation’s interests.

The positive outcomes in the policing context are clear evidence of the effectiveness of such deployments, and these will, in turn, be relevant to security providers when persuading clients to buy into the concept (particularly considering that, whilst the key driver for Servator was to review counter terrorism policing tactics, the benefits have shown that the tactic is effective at detecting and deterring a wide range of issues).

Intelligence sharing

When considering hostile reconnaissance and Servator/React, one of the most important elements is intelligence sharing. Currently, many members of the security industry receive intelligence and information through forums such as CSSC, the City of London Crime Prevention Association, London Protect newsletters etc.

The key questions are, what happens with that information? How do companies then cascade this to their frontline personnel, many of whom have been through the Griffin awareness days? I suggest that a refresh and update to those briefings must be provided too.

To further complement these public and private initiatives, the industry can do more to work in greater partnership within itself to improve the overall safety and security of areas. A simple encouragement of innovative thinking across companies combined with further adoption of the forums covering geographic areas will certainly assist with this.

Examples of the type of intelligence sharing that are possible are similar to the many ‘Watch’ schemes which already operate – sharing live-time intelligence with likeminded partners about suspicious activities. This could assist in identifying potential hostile reconnaissance of multiple sites rather than the more common report from one site which does not appear to be shared with other members of the industry.

In terms of situational awareness, this can emulate the systems that the ‘blue light’ services have adopted, many of which are already in place in the industry. Use of common language and terminology, quickly identifying who is the lead within each agency and ensuring that a single version of the truth is shared, as opposed to the common occurrence of rumour becoming fact through repetition.

Twitter and other social media offer some shocking examples of this trend. There should be a role for the Security Industry Authority (SIA) in regulating intelligence/information sharing across the industry.

Clearly much has already been achieved in mitigating terror threats, with further developments in the pipeline. Collectively, however, we need to remain agile and flexible to continue the success through partnership, since all the indications are the threats will not abate in the near future.

Trevor Dyson

Axis Security Consultant Brookhill Consulting E. Brookhill.Consulting@virginmedia.com

Trevor Dyson is the former Head of Counter Terrorism for the City of London Police. He is now working with Axis Security to offer businesses counter terrorism advice.

The post Corporate security strategy to face terrorism appeared first on City Security Magazine.

Extracts from the Cressida Dick’s Mansion House speech in 2017 on the police role in national security:

The threat:

Since March this year, the tempo of terrorist attacks has changed. What we are seeing is now being described by the experts as a “shift” in threat, not a spike. We are still at a SEVERE threat level (meaning an attack is highly likely) in relation to international terrorism. But undoubtedly, the rhythm of work is very much increased for the counter terrorist professionals.

Since spring this year, we have suffered the ghastly attacks in Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge and Borough Market and Finsbury Park. 17 weeks of carnage when 36 people have been killed, more than 200 injured and countless others had their lives turned upside down. In addition, six attack planning plots were thwarted in the last four months alone, and we can expect that figure to rise.

It is well known that the police and MI5 have over 500 investigations into 3,000 individuals across the UK, assessed as posing the biggest threats. There are some 20,000 other former subjects whose risk remains subject to review. I anticipate these numbers will grow.

International terrorist organisations such as Daesh and Al Qaeda have global and strategic objectives. In the modern globalised world, they exploit technology and the relative ease of international travel to promote that ideology and to project threat across borders. The division between the threat overseas and at home is decreasing and we cannot address the domestic symptoms of the problem in isolation from the international drivers. That said, they manifest differently, not least because we have some very strong measures in place here; for example, our restrictions on firearms and our borders.

What we have seen in recent months are individuals mostly acting in small groups or apparently alone. Most have a primarily domestic focus – they are “homegrown”. Many have favoured low-tech and relatively unsophisticated methodologies. These less sophisticated attacks can mature faster, making detection harder. The bulk of this domestic threat seems to be from those who are inspired by overseas networks, though there have undoubtedly been some who have been more directly enabled by them also, and we should not assume that attempts by senior leaderships of overseas groups to direct more or less sophisticated UK attacks have gone away.

Similarly, in the virtual world we have to tackle the “enablers,” working with the CSPs to contest the narrative of Jihad and prevent it radicalising the vulnerable, and thereby protect and defend our society’s values. Since 2010, 270,000 pieces of illegal terrorist material have been removed by social media providers, following referrals from the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit.

Extreme right wing:

We should not forget the threat posed by other violent extremists, particularly the extreme right wing and those motivated by racist hatred, so vividly shown in the appalling events at Finsbury Park. We are dealing here with fewer individuals, less coordinated or organised.

But every year we see some with lethal intent brought to justice. As I speak, there are 14 Domestic Extremist individuals in custody, who had lethal capability and intent.

Role of police:

In confronting these threats the police have a multiplicity of roles. We have all seen much of the police response to tragic attacks. The armed officers neutralising the threats and saving countless lives; the unarmed taking on attackers, protecting the public and getting them to safety; the hundreds at Borough Market – Met, City of London and BTP – using emergency life-saving skills and working with the other emergency services; and then the sad task of securing crime scenes and painstakingly examining every inch for evidence. This preparedness comes from years of investment, of training and exercising.

At London Bridge and Borough Market alone, over 1,000 officers were present that night – securing the scene, preserving evidence, protecting and reassuring the public. Over the following week, more than 900 officers, forensics experts and other technical staff, working alongside local people and partners, were deployed to the investigation to identify the deceased and injured, work closely with their families, to secure digital and forensic evidence, subsequently to arrest associates in armed operations and to begin to trace all relevant witnesses. All done at pace, together with our friends in MI5, in order to support victims as best we can, to ensure there is no lingering threat, no one else involved and to begin to establish for the coroner what has happened.

Contest and the four Ps:

That great work of being prepared sits under the Prepare strand of this country’s CONTEST strategy. For us it is built on years of learning, from our own and others’ experience.

CONTEST has been a powerful strategy for nearly 15 years, surviving multiple governments. It has provided all engaged in countering terrorism – in the government and well beyond – a common language and understanding of the threat, the ability to develop capabilities effectively across many complex systems, the ability to flex and surge according to need across a multiplicity of agencies, organisations and departments.

And I really can’t emphasise enough the number of partners involved – from the military and the FCO, to the CPS, prisons, local authorities, and education.

Clearly, in the light of this latest shift in threat, in view of the terrible attacks, there is a need to review the strategy again, and as a country we will need to step change in many areas. This is what those who work in countering terrorism have always done – the threat changes, it morphs, we must adapt with it.

The police are the one agency which contribute really substantially to all four CONTEST strands. We are also uniquely the service which works primarily very publicly, with huge transparency, but also have a large arm that can and frequently does work in the secret domain.

Our people who, day-in, day-out, build and piece together intelligence, bring violent extremists to justice, trace their finances or otherwise disrupt them are highly vetted and work routinely with secret intelligence. The relationship between our three intelligence agencies – MI5, MI6, and GCHQ – is closer than any other set of agencies in the world. In turn, the relationship between the police and the agencies – primarily, but by no means exclusively, MI5 – is unique. These dedicated officers, staff and civil servants working in the shadows deserve our thanks as much as our more high-profile teams.

The counter terrorist police network works pretty much seamlessly and interoperably across police force boundaries across the UK, hand in glove with MI5 and very closely with the government and overseas police partners across the world. This means that information being discussed on a street in London about, say, a threat in Belgium, could be passed to colleagues there in seconds or minutes. Intelligence sourced from Raqqa or Kabul or Peshawar can be considered, if relevant, by police colleagues anywhere in the UK similarly quickly.

Our collective PURSUE capability is formidable. It has been immensely successful. It is supported by strong legislation and, since the Investigatory Powers Act, real legal clarity about the basis for our intrusive work together with strong accountability and oversight.

But, the challenges are great. Increasingly, encryption frustrates our investigations every day. As Jonathan Evans, former DG of MI5,  said, “knowing who someone is, is not the same as knowing what they are going to do”. We have had unprecedented numbers of UK citizens travelling to these conflicts in largely ungoverned spaces. Progress on the ground in Syria and Iraq does not necessarily translate into a reduction in threat here. And we have large numbers of apparently volatile individuals in the UK, some of whom become determined to die, who may have been inspired largely through the web and decided on methodology learned from there too.

The modern threat, more than ever, includes the encouraging of others to commit atrocious acts.

That virus can infect communities and is spreading faster and more easily due to the internet. We need to get explicit content taken down as quickly as possible.

A word about PROTECT. We have a number of resources of our own: highly trained protection officers, police patrols, armed officers, various forms of technology, barriers such as you now see on London’s bridges and so forth, protecting crowded places, events, iconic sites and the critical national infrastructure.

We work closely with the other agencies at the border to try to ensure that they are as secure as possible, both in relation to people and, for example, firearms. Equally important is our role in providing advice and relevant information to communities, religious establishments, the public sector and business, so that people can make good, risk-based decisions about how to keep themselves and their buildings safe.

We do this through a network of dedicated specialists, through public information and social media and highly successful training materials and exercises. In this, we rely hugely on the business community, and this is an opportunity to thank you – you are our eyes and ears, you work brilliantly across your own networks and, as the threat has grown, the business community has become an ever stronger partner for us.

A special thank you to the security industry – who haven’t always had plaudits! – but with 100,000 employees in London, three times more than I have police officers, your role is fundamental.

Finally, PREVENT, this has always been the hardest P. How do you stop vulnerable people being radicalised? How do you counter a pernicious narrative of hatred in the internet age? Much has been said in recent months about PREVENT as a brand…

What I can say is that I have seen huge numbers of successful interventions by PREVENT professionals that have undoubtedly turned people away from extremism.

In 2015-2016 PREVENT stopped more than 50 individuals travelling to Syria. I have seen the duty on those in schools and elsewhere to recognise signs and report concerns, controversial though it has been, to have resulted in effective safeguarding of young people and the vulnerable. It’s also worth noting that PREVENT works extensively against right-wing extremism – 10 per cent of referrals and nearly a third of interventions are with people who hold right-wing ideology.

Our communities:

All of our police work in countering terrorism is founded on our core principles and ethos. Of policing by consent. As Sir Robert Peel said, “the police are the public, and the public are the police”. All police work in the UK depends crucially on the support of people in our communities.

It is they who give us information, who allow us to set up observation points, who are witnesses, who give us our legitimacy, who pay for the service we provide. Without community support we are nothing and this applies in counter terrorism as much as anywhere else.

We have invested in local policing – in neighbourhood officers, those dedicated to particular wards, those working in schools – building confidence and solving problems.

I am convinced this work is a vital part of our counter terrorist effort. These neighbourhood officers are the staff most likely to be approached with information or for advice. These are the staff most likely to spot the signs of radicalisation. The relationship between local policing, schools and councils underpins the safeguarding work we collectively do to protect the vulnerable – including the very young, people with mental health problems or those who have lost their way and lack support in their lives.

“Communities defeat terrorism” and we need to be in our communities.

In recent times we have received ever more calls to the anti-terrorist hotline. We regularly receive information from family members, friends, schools and religious institutions about people they are worried about – whose behaviour is changing, who may be being radicalised. We have more people from all communities standing up and condemning terrorism.

But it is manifestly not enough. The threats we face are not unique to the UK – much of the world is facing similar challenges. Yet we must not deny the scale of this challenge. It comes at a time of international and political uncertainty. In the police we have some huge retrospective investigations and reviews to service, changing demographics (a larger and younger population) and rising demands in other crime areas, such as sexual offences and violent crime and in the emergency response service.

In addition, as the Mayor has pointed out yesterday, in the Met we are facing financial pressures. Hence, we in the police service welcome the Government’s announcement of reviews of counter terrorism, anti-extremism and integration strategies. The Casey report shone a worrying light on the degree of isolation and segregation that exists in some of our communities, and some of our Muslim communities specifically.

We will need a step change in government, agency and police efforts. A step change in communities in their efforts to protect and prevent. And even more help from the business community.

The role of business:

Just as the shift in threat means more is required of us, we need more from you – our partners. Business has considerable influence to help us tackle the threat that we collectively face. So I am asking that you continue to support us, to back us. Business and industry has been an increasingly strong partner as the threat has grown. I hope that will continue.

The police and agencies cannot prevent terrorism alone and we will be looking to the private sector to take more responsibility for protecting the public who use their services. The training of 23,000 UK travel industry workers in CT awareness is just one example of the commitment of British business to work with us.

We ask that you continue to prioritise and enhance protective security at your buildings to make them robust and “secure by design”, work with us to train your staff to know what to do to manage an incident, and ensure you have clear venue emergency plans. In particular, small businesses. We want to plan for incidents in more detail with you, and share information even more rapidly in the aftermath of an attack. But we also ask that you work with each other, sharing information to better understand the various CT threats.

Sharing is crucial – be it the reporting of cyber attacks or more general information – not just in the aftermath of an incident, but all the time. The joint money laundering intelligence taskforce was a great help in response to recent CT incidents. And business and the financial sector can and do help enormously in our work against criminal and terrorist financing.

I ask you all – please be an advocate for us and the work we do.

I am so completely confident that together we will rise to meet the challenge of the current threat.

From the Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick’s speech made early this year at Mansion House.

The post Cressida Dick: the police role in national security in 2017 appeared first on City Security Magazine.

In the UK we have a long and proud history of collaboration between Counter Terrorism Police and the private sector.

Alongside our colleagues in business and industry, we recognise that the old adage ‘two heads are better than one’ rings particularly true when it comes to defending communities, key places and national infrastructure from those who wish to do us harm.

It was out of this shared sense of responsibility that Projects Griffin and Argus were born back in 2004, initiatives in which expert police advisors deliver a range of CT awareness modules to businesses. Both are now led and delivered by the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO).

Such was their success that they became a model for how CT Policing’s expertise, and business’s investment of time and money, could be mutually beneficial for both parties, as well as increase our national security capability.

We have come a long way in 14 years, and this important work will continue as we look to establish our new ACT (Action Counters Terrorism) branding with both business and the wider public.

As all good businesses know, if you stand still you are in danger of being left behind.

Adapting approach

This is just as applicable in my line of work, and as the nature of the terrorist threat has evolved, so too has our methodology and approach.

We are constantly adapting to meet the changing threat picture – particularly in light of the emergence of Daesh (ISIL) – and that includes how we work alongside business.

We’re fortunate in the UK that as the threat tempo has increased over the last year, so too has the support offered by the commercial sector. Take our recent work with the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), which I consider to be the ‘Gold Standard’ of how CT Policing and industry can respond effectively to a specific threat.

In June 2015 the horrific slaughter of 38 holidaymakers in Tunisia, many of whom were British citizens, shocked the world with its cold, calculated brutality. It also demonstrated the need for us to take action to keep the millions of British tourists who travel across the globe every year safe.

We had the messaging already, in the form of ‘Run, Hide, Tell’ and other safety advice informing people of how to spot suspicious activity and hostile reconnaissance.

ABTA information campaign

What we needed was a platform to reach this significant, but very specific, audience. Enter ABTA, who recognised the benefits of a trained workforce equipped with the knowledge to try and prevent attacks like Sousse from being committed against their staff and customers.

The result was one of the most successful information campaigns CT Policing has ever delivered, with potentially life-saving information being taught to tens of thousands of holiday reps working for the UK’s major travel companies, via a series of training modules, specifically tailored to the travel industry.

This landmark piece of work also provided a news hook which our communications experts used to deliver a major media launch, a technique which pushed the same safety messaging to millions of people nationwide, and delivered some positive news coverage for all the companies involved. The success of this collaboration has only strengthened our senior officers’ resolve to build stronger relationships with the private sector, for the benefit of all.

Relationships

We recognise the pressures front-line policing currently faces, and we’ve reached out to those in a position to assist – businesses – to forge even stronger relationships and knowledge sharing.

It was listening to our private sector partners which inspired us – alongside partners from the Cross-sector Safety and Security Communications (CSSC) – to begin the annual ‘Step Change Summit’ last year, where the national lead for CT Policing, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, and the UK’s lead for protective security, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi, delivered speeches together with London’s industry leaders to an audience made up of the city’s most prominent business representatives and police officers. Such was its success that this year an even larger event in London was held on Thursday 8 February.

Likewise, our continued support and collaboration with the annual Security and Counter Terror Expo held at London’s Olympia venue is a vital strand in our business outreach strategy, with senior officers in attendance at this year’s event in March to further develop our links with industry to deliver a safer Britain for us all.

Collaboration

Our theme for this year looks at how business can weave our protective security measures into building projects and security strategies, making our public spaces innately constructed to better protect against vehicle-borne attack, hostile reconnaissance and other terrorist methodology.

Similarly, how greater collaboration with business and industry can help police not only protect buildings, infrastructure and people against attack, but also to identify a threat before it becomes viable.

Our next major public safety campaign under our ACT branding will call upon everyone in society – business, private sector, public sector and the public themselves – to come together to undermine the terrorist threat against this country.

We are in a time of unprecedented threat, and it is only through our public and private sectors pulling together that we can hope to overcome that threat to keep our businesses, buildings and, most importantly, people safe in the years to come.

Detective Chief Superintendent

Scott Wilson, National Counter Terrorism Protect and Prepare Coordinator, National Counter Terrorism HQ

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The single most significant challenge for the modern security manager is to take the accepted risk and security management models that they have learned over the course of their career, and to adapt them to the new generation of emerging threats that we are all facing.

If recent events have taught us anything, it is that high-profile, high-casualty attacks on soft targets in major city centres around the world are the ‘new normal’. Rather than being anomalies or one-off events, they are an easily copied modus operandi that can be planned and delivered relatively under the radar, but with an impact that will be seen across the globe.

If we look at events that have taken place in the last twelve months (and this is by no means an exhaustive list), they would include the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris in January 2015 (12 dead), the attack on a Copenhagen coffee shop / art gallery (February 2015, three dead), the attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunisia (March 2015, 21 dead), an attack on Garissa University in Kenya (April 2015, up to three hundred dead or missing), the lone gunman on Sousse beach in Tunisia (June 2015, 38 dead), the multiple attacks in Paris (November 2015, 130 dead), the hotel attack in Mali (November 2015, 22 dead), and the suicide bomber in Sultanahmet Square, Istanbul (January 2016, 10 dead).

Where does the solution lie?

In the face of such seemingly random and unpredictable events, each of which is a tragedy in its own right but around which the world continues to operate as people go their way to work on the tube, meet friends in restaurants, go to sporting events and cultural exhibitions, it may be difficult to see where the solution lies. But, as in most areas of life, when in doubt the best strategy is to return to the fundamental principles. In this case, these are simple: be in control of your territory, ensure that all of your personnel are security aware, review your own practices and procedures as part of your planning for the unexpected and even the unthinkable. Above all – don’t make it easy for the bad guys.

Although it may seem, in the midst of so many attacks, that the enemy we are facing is some sort of empowered super-group that has the ability to deliver death and destruction from any angle and at any time, the truth is that they are simple people carrying out simple operations. The skills of a professional security manager, supported by security team that is well-trained, well-motivated and well-led, may often be enough to divert an attack, if not directly prevent it.

An outstanding example is the security officer outside the Stade de France, where France was hosting Germany in a football match attended by the heads of state of both countries during the multiple attacks in Paris. By simply doing his job, approaching the would-be suicide bomber and following basic protocols, the security officer was able to deflect what would have been possibly the highest-profile terrorist attack since 9/11 in 2001.

The responsibility of us all

As we all know, and have been incessantly informed by government messages, security is the responsibility of us all. In that context, the responsibility of the security manager is no longer to merely manage a security team, but to ensure that anyone who sees something suspicious will feel comfortable about approaching a security officer and passing on that information – and that the security officer will have a clear understanding of what they will then need to do. It is extremely difficult to ‘just act naturally’, and all of us have an instinctive recognition of what is ‘not quite right’.

David Copeland, the ‘London nail bomber’, planted three bombs in London over three weekends in 1999, targeting the largely black community in Brixton, the Bangladeshi community in Brick Lane, and the gay community in the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho. On both of the first two occasions, the holdall holding the nail bomb that he had left at the sites was spotted by local people, and moved. In fact, in Brixton the bag was moved three separate times after it was spotted by local traders, and after one of them took the bomb out of the bag, police were called, who arrived just after the bomb detonated. In Brick Lane, a passer-by spotted the bag, put it in the boot of his car and took it to a police station.

Security management balance

On a more strategic level, if we are to develop a strategy for managing public safety in public places, whether they are transport hubs, high streets, places of worship or sporting events, then the right balance has to be found between effective security management and the freedom to live our lives as we have come to be used to in what is an open, democratic, policing-by-consensus society. It is natural that the efforts to find such a balance will occasionally swing too far in either direction.

There will often be a tendency by the government of the day to make the case for security management tools that are seemingly alien to our historical understanding of ‘natural justice’, such as the attempt to introduce powers to detain suspects without arrest for originally 90 days, and then 42 days, which was defeated in the House of Lords in 2008. The government made the case then that such powers were necessary in order to fight the new generation of terrorist threats, and often used rhetoric that suggested that opponents of such powers were in themselves supporters of terrorism and terrorists.

The belief in fundamental principles mentioned at the start of this article is equally relevant to the need to work within open and democratic legal frameworks and for decisions concerning counter-terrorism, and the actions emanating from those decisions, to be taken in the full light of legal oversight, rather than giving in to the temptation to carry out such actions under cover of the darkness justified by ‘national security’.

Whether it is the security officer stationed at a football stadium or train station, or national decision-makers developing a truly sustainable counter terrorism strategy, it is an understanding of, and adherence to, the basic principles that will give them the greatest guidance in doing their job properly.

David Rubens MSc, CSyP, FSyI

Managing Director, Deltar Training Services Ltd.

A specialist strategic security consultancy, and a Main Board Director of the Security Institute.

The post Security management and terrorism: back to basics. appeared first on City Security Magazine.

Sir David Venness presents the argument that recent developments in international terrorism, and the current response to the threats and risk posed, have strengthened the business case for corporate investment in security.

The presence of armed soldiers on the streets of French and Belgian cities demonstrates changed circumstances and novel dimensions of the challenge. Business leaders will wish to consider the four key factors which have led to these changed conditions:

• The threat is growing faster than the response and has created a gap in security.
• The threat and the security gap is likely to be enduring.
• The potential impact upon business encompasses staff safety and security at home and abroad.
• The changed threat and response has wide implications for business operations and thus necessitates a more integrated and comprehensive security policy.

The opportunity for business arising from these factors is to assess the need for self-help and to sharpen the corporate security posture. This opportunity extends to the business contribution to closing the security gap in the wider community interest.

A sound beginning to the process of assessment of the need for business change  is to analyse the reasons for the growing threat and to appreciate the limitations   upon response.

The growing threat derives from geography, groups, expanding terrorist methodology and the stated agenda of terrorist actors. Each component is explored in more detail next.

Geographical Concerns

Geography, in terms of space, applies to both real locations and the virtual realms of electronic communications. Terrorists have occupied the grey spaces to develop their activities and to elude traditional counter measures. Thus, instability in Syria, Iraq and Yemen added to the existing predicament of Afghanistan and Pakistan plus parts of North, East and West African states provides a wider dimension of risk.

The Director General of the UK Security Service, Andrew Parker, emphasised the Syrian aspect in his compelling and incisive address to the Royal United Services Institute at Thames House in London on 8 January 2015. He said, “Outside Iraq and Syria, we believe that since October 2013 there have been more than 20 terrorist plots either directed or provoked by extremist groups in Syria.” He reminded his audience of events in Belgium, Canada, Australia and France. He added, “We know that terrorists in Syria harbour the same ambitions towards the UK – trying to direct attacks against our country, and exhorting extremists here to act independently.”

International terrorists have already made vigorous use of ungoverned virtual territory to incite violence, to plan, to train, to create propaganda and to communicate overtly and secretly.

Sir David Omand (Securing the State, page 72) writes, “It would seem only a matter of time before neo-jihadist terrorists acquire and use cyber-attack capabilities, possibly by buying the services of criminal hackers, although so far they have preferred the more traditional explosives and guns.”

Cyber-attack is entirely consistent with the stated international terrorist aim of causing economic harm and loss to target interests.  The private sector is particularly vulnerable to this development, which reinforces the wisdom of an holistic approach to corporate security.

The FBI Cyber Division issued a detailed advisory note to private industry in September 2014 setting out the possible reaction to on-going airstrikes against ISIL. The note highlighted potential offensive cyber terrorist and hacktivist activity. The advice was aimed at US victims, but listed examples of actual incidents in the UK.

New and Old Groups

The importance of the thread of instability extends to the emergence of new groups and new forms of old groups. The result is a wider and deeper pool of terrorists. Thus, the significance of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and its assertion of Islamic Statehood attracting volunteers from many nations. There is also the forward deployment of Al Qaeda (AQ) core to Syria and the continued activities of AQ affiliates such as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).  Groups in North, West and East Africa, some with links to ISIL, AQ or their affiliates, add to the complexity of sources of terrorist operatives.

The overall movement of fighters from outside the country to Syria is a major factor and numerically worrisome, especially when compared to the numbers who fought in Afghanistan and went on to cause a global terrorist surge.

The implication of foreign fighters is wider than the issue of persons travelling to and from Syria. The broader consequence is the danger of greater connections between potential terrorist recruits, both in their homelands and on the move, and terrorist recruiters, trainers and technical advisers in ungoverned spaces. These connections are both real and virtual.

Terrorist Methodolgy

Another component of the growing threat is the nature of terrorist plots and attacks.  Terrorist methodology is expanding from the established middle ground of guns and explosives, including suicide bombers, towards new variations at both ends of the spectrum. At the unsophisticated tier, knives and motor vehicles driven into crowds are advocated by terrorist agitators. In addition to regrettable casualties, public fear is to be expected, especially when crude attacks are carried out with great brutality, including beheading. The cumulative effect of more potential offenders, more unpredictable incidents and greater mitigating measures adds to the burden of the authorities to PROTECT and PREPARE.

The centre ground of guns and explosives remains a present menace with additional tactics of marauding attackers and variations in components and concealment of IEDs.

At the top end of the scale, terrorist innovation is a persistent dimension. Cyber-attack plus chemical, biological and radiological aspects remains pertinent. On 24 January 2015 an airstrike near Mosul in Iraq killed a member of ISIL whom US Central Command asserted had technical competence in the production and use of chemical weapons.

The Terrorist Agenda

The final key aspect of threat development is the expressed intention of international terrorist groups. Dire events since 2001 have underlined the wisdom of listening to and evaluating what terrorist groups actually say.  There is a marked correlation between intended targets and actions and grim reality on the ground. A clear current example is the stated threat of retaliation aimed at members of the US-led coalition carrying out airstrikes in Iraq.

Terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria have expressed the ambition to strike at coalition member states and have urged supporters to take action wherever they are located, including specifying potential targets and attack methods.

UK membership of the Coalition conducting operations in Iraq (but not Syria) is based on the debate held in the House of Commons on 26 September 2014. Issues of national interest and the safety of the British people from the ISIL threat were convincingly articulated. The counter-terrorist case for membership of the Coalition is soundly based and membership is likely to be long-term.

Assessing the Response Capability

The consequences of terrorist reaction are an inevitable factor in the overall threat.

The combination of extended geography (both territorial and virtual), more groups and terrorists, a broadened span of attack methods and stated terrorist intentions provides the code to understanding the changed contemporary threat of international terrorism. This is markedly different from the threats which the UK has faced since the 1970s and business security should now reflect this unwanted fact.

Lord Evans of Weardale (formerly Director General of the UK Security Service), speaking in the House of Lords (Hansard – 13 January 2015 – Column 690), said, “When I left MI5 in 2013, I felt cautiously optimistic that we were over the worst as far as Al Qaeda and Islamist terrorist attacks in this country were concerned. It seemed to me that we were making significant progress. Regrettably, subsequent events have proved that judgement to be wrong.”

This cogent analysis from one of the UK’s most knowledgeable and experienced experts becomes even more powerful when the review of threat is extended to a review of response.

The stark conclusion is that the threat has increased and the response capability has not kept pace. This has produced a gap at a time when the threat level is “Severe” and an attack is assessed as “Highly likely”.

Reasons for the Gap

The limited ability of nations, including those directly threatened by terrorist attacks, to address threats at their geographic or virtual sources is critical. There are political, social and economic constraints. There are the risks of counter-productive consequences of direct action. This means that disruption and degradation of terrorist groups will take time and sustained multi-national commitment.

President Obama of the United States has warned, “It will take time to eradicate a cancer like ISIL. And any time we take military action, there are risks involved.” (Statement by the President on ISIL, 10 September 2014 – White House.).

The Report of the House of Commons Defence Committee published on 5 February 2015 underlines the myriad challenges in defining and implementing coalition strategy in Iraq and Syria.

The domestic resourcing requirements to address the growth of the threat are formidable. Investment in intelligence is the logical best choice, but the demand extends across PURSUE, PREVENT, PROTECT and PREPARE. For example, protective security for people and places requires intensive effort with high grade skills. Monitoring and surveillance generate comparable demands for well trained staff.

Lord Harris of Haringey, speaking in the House of Lords (Hansard – 13 January 2015 – Column 696), questioned whether the budgetary allocation for the Police Service was adequate for the additional demand.  He also drew attention to the provision of police firearms capability.

Both the former and present Director Generals of the Security Service have underlined the pressing need to modernise properly accountable access to terrorist communications to mitigate present exploitation of dark areas. There seems little doubt that this issue is a very important reason for weakness in response without the prospect of immediate resolution.

The relationship between threat and response has been graphically described in The Economist (17 January 2015 – Page 23/24) in an article entitled “COUNTER-TERRORISM – GETTING HARDER”.  The final paragraph of the article states, “The citizens of the West have grown used to the idea that their security services can protect them from the worst that might happen. Faced by a new range of threats and with counter measures apparently of rapidly declining effectiveness that may be about to change.”

The UK is extremely fortunate in having highly competent private security professionals working both within companies and for external specialist providers. The UK has an excellent tradition of corporate social responsibility in terms of business self-sufficiency, support to the public services and valued contribution to the wider safety of the community. Business representative organisations have a very constructive track record of engagement on this agenda. There is a unique range of innovative public/private initiatives such as the Cross Sector Safety & Communication Project (CSSC) and Project Griffin. There may be scope for even greater effectiveness by closer co-ordination of these elements.

The conclusion of this article is that, on the basis of analysis of the threat of international terrorism and the current response, the business case is clearly made out for a step-change for in-house corporate security and for business reinforcement of public/private security.

Sir David Veness, Senior Advisor, Pilgrims Group Limited (at time of writing)

Honorary Professor of Terrorism Studies at the University of St. Andrews.

www.pilgrimsgroup.com

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