Commentary

National Security Strategy

Conference Report RUSI’s fourth annual resilience conference took place on 19-20 September 2007, supported by a diverse cast of speakers, perspectives and issues. The conference was framed around the idea of ‘delivering resilience’ and, to this end, sought to explore the themes, policies, mechanisms and organizations that are central to delivering resilience for the UK.
12 Oct 2007

Assessing the All Hazards Summer Whilst summer seems to have come and gone without any real recourse to its default position of hot weather and sunshine, the summer of 2007 will always be remembered as a summer of hazards, a summer of loss.
13 Sep 2007

A Change in Tactics? On the afternoon of 4 September 2007, police in Germany arrested three people suspected of planning major terrorist attacks on Frankfurt’s airport and the United States military base at Ramstein.
6 Sep 2007

July 7: Do we need an inquest? 31 Aug 2007

The need for a UK Civil Defence Force? 30 Jul 2007

All Change? Brown’s New Terror Proposals Barely a month into his Premiership, Gordon Brown has unveiled his new security proposals.
26 Jul 2007

Situation Critical? As of Wednesday, 4 July, the current threat level in the UK remains at Critical, having been raised to this, the highest of five possible levels, on Saturday 30 June following failed car bomb attacks on Central London and Glasgow Airport.
4 Jul 2007

The Australian Connection Australians have a lot of sympathy for the UK when it suffers a terrorist attack. Many Australians have significant connections to the UK, so the incidents in London and Glasgow were front page news and lead stories in newscasts on Australian television.
4 Jul 2007

Reporting the car bombs They are astonishing pictures by any standards. From the moment the terrorists struck, in London and Glasgow, what happened was filmed – not by the press or the police, but by members of the public who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
3 Jul 2007

Car Bombs: Inside Vehicle Borne Improvized Explosive Devices (VBIEDs) In the early hours of Friday 29 June 2007 a sharp-eyed paramedic, attending an incident at a central London nightclub, reported a suspect vehicle to the Metropolitan Police.
3 Jul 2007

What need is there for a public role in the fight against terrorism? In the wake of the terrorist activities of the past four days, one cannot underestimate the role that the public has played, and will need to play in the future, in countering the terrorist threat.
2 Jul 2007

Failed Terrorist Attacks are Still Terrorist Attacks The failed terrorist bombings of London and Glasgow allow a collective sigh of relief. Initial analysis suggests that the bombs were viable and if detonated would have caused massive loss of life, injury and damage.
2 Jul 2007

UK Car Bombs: Timing the Attacks The UK narrowly averted a series of potentially devastating attacks over the weekend in an apparently coordinated plan to detonate vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) in multiple locations.
2 Jul 2007

UK Floods: Changing Attitudes Dramatic pictures of flooding across the UK broadcast over the last few days vividly demonstrate how fragile our people, towns and infrastructure are in the face of unrelenting nature.
2 Jul 2007

What's in a Name? Changing Critical National Infrastructure Those sharp-eyed spotters among us who carefully monitor the output of Government websites might perhaps have felt the right to be bemused when confronted with the changing definition of critical national infrastructure (CNI) that has recently emerged.
28 Jun 2007

The Al-Qa’ida Business Plan Al-Qai'da strategy is more in keeping with the boardroom of a multi-national business than a military campaign headquarters. Therefore looking at how modern business practices have evolved over recent years may provide both an insight into the current threat to the UK and ways to counter it.
19 Jun 2007

Keeping A Clear Head As Bird Flu Hits Wales Open reporting combined with clear and honest information is the best defence against potential media scare-mongering and public panic.
25 May 2007

Terror suspects on control orders abscond Whether you are subject to a control order or are being hounded publicly for absconding from one, your personal liberties are somewhat curtailed. We ought to try to think creatively about how we increase the use of normal legal process.
24 May 2007

Reid to Resign as Home Secretary 9 May 2007

Operation Crevice Trial Ends It is easy to point fingers at the security services and ask how they missed Khan and Tanweer. It is less simple to determine how on earth the security services could have joined the dots without the benefit of hindsight.
2 May 2007

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