Author: Jonathan Evans
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 7, 2007
Al Qaeda is targeting children, says MI5
The main national security threat that Britain
faces today is from Al Qaeda and its associated groups. But before we look
at the violent manifestation of that threat in the UK, we need to remember
where this comes from. The violence is the product of a much wider extremist
ideology, whose basic tenets are inimical to the tolerance and liberty which
form the basis of our democracy. So although the most visible manifestations
of this problem are the attacks and attempted attacks we have suffered in
recent years, the root of the problem is ideological.
Why? Because the ideology underlying Al Qaeda
and other violent groups is extreme. It does not accept the legitimacy of
other viewpoints. It is intolerant, and it believes in a form of government
which is explicitly anti-democratic. And the more that this ideology spreads
in our communities, the harder it will be to maintain the kind of society
that the vast majority of us wish to live in.
This time last year, MI5 had identified around
1,600 individuals in the UK who we believed posed a direct threat to national
security and public safety, because of their support for terrorism. That figure
today would be at least 2,000.
This growth, which has driven the increasingly
strong and co-ordinated Government response, is partly because our coverage
of the extremist networks is now more thorough. But it is also because there
remains a steady flow of new recruits to the cause.
And it is important that we recognise an uncomfortable
truth: Terrorist attacks we have seen against the UK are not simply random
plots by disparate and fragmented groups. The majority of these attacks, successful
or otherwise, have taken place because Al Qaeda has a clear determination
to mount terrorist attacks against the UK.
This remains the case today, and there is
no sign of it reducing. So although MI5 and the police are investigating plots,
and thwarting them, on a continuing basis, we do not view them in isolation.
Al Qaeda is conducting a deliberate campaign against us. It is the expression
of a hostility towards the UK which existed long before September 11, 2001.
It is evident in the wills and letters left behind by actual and would-be
bombers. And it regularly forms part of Al Qaeda's broadcast messages.
As a country, the UK is rightly concerned
to protect children from exploitation in other areas. We need to do the same
in relation to violent extremism. Terrorists are methodically and intentionally
targeting young people and children in the UK. They are radicalising, indoctrinating
and grooming young, vulnerable people to carry out acts of terrorism. This
year, we have seen individuals as young as 15 and 16 implicated in terrorist-related
activity.
Another development in the last 12 months
has been the extent to which the conspiracies here are being driven from an
increasing range of overseas countries. Over the last five years much of the
command, control and inspiration for attack planning in the UK has derived
from Al Qaeda's remaining core leadership in the tribal areas of Pakistan
- often using young British citizens to mount the actual attack. But we have
recently seen similar processes emerging elsewhere.
For instance, there is no doubt now that Al
Qaeda in Iraq aspires to promote terrorist attacks outside Iraq. There is
no doubt that there is training activity and terrorist planning in East Africa
- particularly in Somalia - which is focussed on the UK. And there is no doubt
that the extension of what one might call the 'Al Qaeda franchise' to other
groups in other countries - notably in Algeria - has created a significant
upsurge in terrorist violence in these countries. It is no coincidence that
the first suicide bombing in Algeria followed the creation of the new 'Al
Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb'.
This sort of extension of the Al Qaeda brand
to new parts of the Middle East and beyond poses a further threat to us in
the UK because it provides Al Qaeda with access to new centres of support
which it can motivate and exploit, including in its campaign against the UK.
Since 9/11, there have been a number of examples
of serious Al Qaeda-related terrorist activity in Europe. But in the last
12 months we have seen an increase in attack planning across the continent.
This summer alone we saw many terrorist arrests, including those in Germany,
Denmark and Austria. It is too early to assess with confidence what all this
means but certainly, we can see that the threat from Al Qaeda-related terrorism
goes well beyond the UK.
Looking at the plots themselves, we now see
different levels of sophistication. Yes, we have seen unsophisticated attempts
to kill and injure, but we have also seen complex, logistically effective
plots, which require a high degree of expertise and accurate targeting. We
have to pay equal attention to both the crude and the complex. Because the
primitive can be just as deadly as the sophisticated.
--Excerpted from the speech of MI5 Director-General
Jonathan Evans to the Society of Editors in Manchester.
