http://rusi.org/ web@rusi.org en-us Copyright 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C487F483018C22/ After ten months, an interim report, and additional flood reviews from government and the insurance industry, the Pitt Review has reached its final conclusions. July 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C484F6575C06B2/ There are sufficient judicial safeguards in place to protect civil rights and fundamental principles of liberty. The pre-charge proposals are necessary and we must make the right decision. June 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C484F62DCDC7EF/ Pre-charge detention has now become the unsophisticated but easily observed weather vane of Government intent on security. Government must consider the rhetorical significance of extending detention. June 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C483D854A0BE36/ The refusal of the military junta in Rangoon to bow to international pressure and allow full access after the tragedy caused by cyclone Nargis illustrates the limits of the ‘right of intervention’ as theorised by the United Nations. May 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C47FCF3E8C583D/ Those entrusted with the security of the Olympic Games must consider how they keep the peace in the face of global and well organised protest. April 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C47CFED1526F55/ The forthcoming Second Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention provides an opportunity to review the impact of the decade that has passed since the Convention’s entry into force. March 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C4799BF46C1CE7/ The new Counter Terrorism Bill 2008 proposes several changes to existing UK laws but it is the controversial extension to the period of detention without charge that has grabbed most of the media attention. As Jacqui Smith presented the Counter Terrorism Bill to Parliament on 24 January, the furore surrounding the pre-charge detention period for suspects cast a shadow, leaving scant consideration among the media and politicians alike for other important aspects of the Bill. January 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C47906FDDD42E3/ From attempted mass-casualty terrorist attacks, to cyber attacks, flooding to foot and mouth and bluetongue outbreaks, 2007 was an ‘all-hazards’ year for the UK. January 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C475D20974C2F1/ Many commentators have commented that Samina Malik was convicted of a 'thought crime'. In fact, the self-styled 'lyrical terrorist' was guilty of crossing a line that is defined in law and is being punished for doing so. December 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C474571E81913C/ The episode of HM Revenue and Customs losing data points to deeper problems of how we as a society value and thus secure information November 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C473DBBF531865/ The newly-revealed counter-terrorist measures (revealed 14 November) places an emphasis on protecting the very fabric of our society. It will be the continuing and necessary functioning of society, its ability to adapt, adjust and overcome, that makes terrorism so ordinary, pathetic, lethal and impotent. November 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C473D74EEDAD06/ The speech made by Gordon Brown on 14 November, in advance of the National Security Strategy which will be published in the next few weeks, sets out a strategy for preventing future terrorist attacks on the UK. Much of the new content of Brown’s speech pertained to Lord West’s review of physical security measures within the UK. These included the introduction of barriers to keep potential vehicle borne bombs away from key areas and designing bomb-resistant features into new buildings. November 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C473739ADBCC8B/ On Monday 5 November in his first public speech, Jonathan Evans, Director General of the Security Service, spoke to The Society of Editors about the challenges facing his service and, in particular, the threat from violent extremism. November 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C473081217114B/ The guilty verdict applied to the Metropolitan Police Service in relation to Health and Safety breaches over the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes completes a necessary circle of action and accountability. November 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C472B3D713E8B9/ Yesterday, an Old Bailey jury ruled that London’s Metropolitan Police had broken health and safety laws and unnecessarily put the public at risk in the hours before fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. November 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C470F8A2A53918/ There are undoubtedly myriad complex reasons, some good and some bad, behind Gordon Brown’s decision not hold a snap General Election in November 2007. October 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C470F8354C3836/ 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. October 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C46E8FB14586A6/ 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. September 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C46DFF6A8C92C3/ 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. September 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C46D82171D49D7/ August 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C46AD9E1302254/ July 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C46A880130DE53/ Barely a month into his Premiership, Gordon Brown has unveiled his new security proposals. July 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C468BA7F92D0FF/ 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. July 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C468B69D9DC2D1/ 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. July 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C468A17F8B67DF/ 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. July 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C468A125C1E6E1/ 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. July 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C468928729BE89/ 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. July 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C4689189D4A2F1/ 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. July 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C468907FFAD8D6/ 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. July 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C4688C1EFDC3D0/ 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. July 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C46838528BDB00/ 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. June 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C4677EC3654709/ 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. June 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C4656C4F66B044/ Open reporting combined with clear and honest information is the best defence against potential media scare-mongering and public panic. May 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C4655C554553AA/ 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. May 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C464204BDC513E/ May 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C4638BFFA4FEC1/ 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. May 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C460BA60D563A6/ The rationalization of the UK government's security structures is a step in the right direction March 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C45C32C548E874/ A nation has been terrorized and recruitment to our armed forces and police has been potentially compromised, on pure speculation. February 2007 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C455881069666E/ Has the MI5 chief's warning on 9 November updated our appreciation of the the terror threat in the UK? November 2006 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C47ECCD062E4E4/ March 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C45379B5261023/ Whilst allowing intercept evidence into open court can possibly address existing civil liberty concerns, it could conversely result in a fundamental revision of counter-terror strategy. October 2006 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C446C824A2BD0E/ The government’s terror advice comes as a sobering thought to those of us who live ‘just-in-time’ lives. The daily activities of a typical family are complex and require split second timing and it is not uncommon that every member of a household are in different towns for large parts of the day. The slight delay of a train or a traffic jam can have severe knock-on effects resulting in panic phone calls to partners, schools and childminders. Just imagine what would happen if you couldn't make those calls because the phone networks had been commandeered to deal with a large scale emergency, or that you had been quarantined awaiting decontamination and was unable to contact anyone. May 2006 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C446C81DB13675/ Within days of the London terror attacks, we have heard a great deal about how terrorism in the UK has entered a new era. May 2006 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C446C80D9B489B/ LONDON -- As one of the vast army of people who commutes to central London daily, I drove to my local train station last Friday. To my slight surprise, the car park was a lot less full than usual. I stopped to buy a newspaper and a coffee but spent the 45-minute trip wondering why it never occurred to me not to make my normal journey the day after the London Tube bombings. Others clearly felt differently. I'm a physicist and my technical background is blast injury so I'm probably more informed than most about the horrific injuries sustained by the people on those three packed underground trains and the lone bus on July 7. Although the bombs were 10 times smaller than those used last year in Madrid, or even in most suicide bombings in Israel, their impact was nonetheless devastating. May 2006 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C446C7D59491D9/ The reason is simple: the security market is spread across every Government department, every part of the critical national infrastructure, every first-responder community, every private business and every individual. May 2006 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C446C7EA9CF64C/ Reinforcing the need to introduce identity cards, the use of the Internet in propagating extremism and the need to counter financial support for terrorism were some of the key points of a speech delivered by Chancellor Gordon Brown at the Royal United Services Institute today. May 2006 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C47E1550676341/ As the Government announces its National Security Strategy, Dr Tobias Feakin introduces the RUSI Homeland Security & Resilience Department's analysis on the document. March 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C47E2972B1A3B5/ The National Security Strategy re-emphasises the importance of the Prevent strand of the Government’s existing counter-terrorism strategy and describes the importance of the role of wider society in aiding effort across the ‘four Ps’. March 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C47E2900157AE8/ Climate change represents a new type of national security threat, requiring innovative institutional arrangements and unprecedented levels of international co-operation. The UK’s National Security Strategy sets out a bold plan to deal comprehensively with these challenges. March 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C47E2940AB3F21/ The Government’s National Security Strategy has provided a useful articulation of the great diversity of threats facing the UK. Does this articulation, along with its intention to create a National Risk Register, signal the adoption of a genuinely risked-based approach to security? March 2008 http://rusi.org/research/hsr/intro/commentary/rss/ref:C47E2955944075/ The National Security Strategy is the first step in opening a dialogue between the UK Government, its international security partners and the public. It forms a framework into which all subsequent strategy and policy must fit. March 2008