In a speech to an invited audience at Cityforum, security minister Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones set out the Government’s vision for the future of CONTEST in the face of the changing shape and complexity of the threat posed by Al Qaida and other terrorist organisations.
The minister made it abundantly clear that the Government wants to balance vital measures to ensure safety and security with the need to guard civil liberties and restore public confidences in counter-terrorism powers.
The speech reflected recent key announcements on changes to pre-charge detention and stop and search laws, as well as the end to control orders.
In addition, the minister spoke of plans to revise the Prevent strand of CONTEST (itself aimed at preventing people from becoming terrorists) and invited views from gathered partners and experts on how the overall strategy should operate.
Here’s what the minister had to say in full…
Bedrock for CONTEST to be successful
“It’s now almost ten months since the coalition Government was elected. Over that period, I have personally seen much that has impressed me in the way that the UK ‘does’ counter-terrorism: the hard-working men and women who do so much, unnoticed, to protect our security – from law enforcement, the intelligence and security agencies and the Armed Forces through to the emergency services and the wider community.”
“I wish to thank them for their hard work.”
“For CONTEST to be successful it must involve law-makers, business and industry, academia, law enforcement and our international partners. This is why it’s important that we use the opportunity we have today to consider the issues at the very heart of our strategy – to ensure that we factor-in all the accumulated knowledge which is shared between you.”
“The focus of today’s event is: ‘The future of CONTEST in the security of the United Kingdom’. I would like to reflect briefly on the changing shape and complexity of the terrorist threat we face.”
“A number of incidents over the course of the last year demonstrate how the threat from terrorism continues to diversify:
“What these and many other events show is that the threat we face is changing. Al Qaida is under pressure from the international community. Let us not be in any doubt that this group still aspire to launch attacks against the West. We now see new alliances between previously unconnected – and indeed, unknown – terrorist groups.”
An inherently unpredictable threat
“We face an inherently unpredictable threat from self-starting individuals motivated by Al Qaida’s rhetoric of global jihad. This is the context for CONTEST – our strategy for countering the terrorist threat.”
“The aim of CONTEST is to reduce the risk to the UK, and its interests overseas, from all forms of terrorism. To do this we aim to reduce the threat – through work on Prevent and Pursue – alongside reducing vulnerability and promoting resilience, through Protect and Prepare. It is this framework which shapes our programme today.”
“This Government wants to balance the vital measures taken to ensure safety and security with the other rights we value. We must strike a balance between the requirement for Government intervention in the interests of security and the need to guard our civil liberties and restore public confidence in our counter-terrorism powers. The key to delivering this new approach is the rigorous assessment of both proportionality and necessity.”
“Within Pursue, we have recently completed and announced the findings of the counter-terrorism security powers review. We reviewed counter-terrorism legislation because too much of it was excessive and unnecessary. At times, it gave the impression of criminalising entire communities. It was also ineffective in certain areas.”
“We have reduced the maximum period of pre-charge detention from 28 to 14 days. We are also committed to repealing Section 44 powers of stop and search and replacing it with a more tightly defined power to use in extraordinary circumstances.”
Better focus, more targeted restrictions
“We will repeal control orders and replace them with a new package of measures which is better focused and has more targeted restrictions, supported by significantly increased resources for surveillance and other investigative tools.”
“And we must also address any technical shortfalls in our ability to tackle cyber terrorism and safeguard our ability to access communications data.
“This should not be mistaken for being ‘soft’ on terrorism. In a number of areas, we are investing to ensure that we have suitable capabilities in place to respond to the threat posed by terrorist activity.”
“We take these measures because (unlike random stop and search) they are necessary and they are proportionate.”
“No strategy, however perfectly crafted and well implemented, can entirely mitigate the threat we face – but how should we ensure that our efforts and resources for tackling terrorism are properly focused amid a constantly evolving threat environment?”
Reviewing the Prevent strand
“We are also reviewing the Prevent strand of CONTEST. We want Prevent to do just that: prevent people becoming terrorists. We do not want to use counter-terrorism money to promote integration. We do not want Prevent to appear to stigmatise communities.”
“Prevent will focus upon countering terrorist ideology by empowering communities with the theological and technological expertise necessary to challenge terrorist ideology. Where individuals are at risk of becoming terrorists, we will intervene to prevent this happening and crack down on those who radicalise others.”
“In doing all of this, we will provide support to those institutions where radicalisation is most prevalent, including universities, schools and prisons.
“Integration will be addressed in a strategy by the Department for Communities and Local Government. While the two strategies are distinct, there are linkages.”
“The Government will not work with those who hold extreme views, even if they are not advocating violence. Extremism undermines our common values. These values are the fabric that binds our society together.”
“If we want a more integrated and cohesive society we must be much more assertive in promoting common values and challenging the views which undermine them. If we, as a society, believe in certain irreducible values, we should not stand by passively if they are threatened by extremists.”
Firm but proportionate response
“In revising our Prevent strategy, we will follow the same approach as we do with the other parts of our counter-terrorism strategy. Our response will be firm but proportionate and targeted to the threat.”
“I believe that there is much that we in Government can learn from the expertise that you bring to this topic. How can we tackle the divisive ideology which seeks to radicalise vulnerable individuals towards terrorism? How should we work with public institutions to ensure that they can strengthen the safeguards against radicalisation?”
“We have also done much in PROTECT and PREPARE. On the Protect strand we have reviewed aviation security and are now bringing forward measures to stop terrorists attacking the international air freight system (including the suspension of air freight from Yemen and unaccompanied freight from Somalia).”
“We are also committed to providing updated guidance to airport security personnel to assist them in identifying future potential threats.”
“And on Prepare we are investing in police firearms capability to respond to the potential of a marauding Mumbai-style attack. We also conduct regular ‘live-play’ counter-terrorism exercises which test the ability of the police, the ambulance service and others to respond to a range of terrorist scenarios. These exercises also allow us to test the interoperability of the emergency service network across all providers.”
Importance of a flexible strategy
“We know that we must not rest there. How can we enhance our co-operation with partners and the public to reduce vulnerability and promote resilience?”
“This Government recognises the importance of a flexible and responsive strategy to help us tackle emerging threats: that is exactly what we will develop.”
“With a new Government comes new views, new opinions and new policies, but the objective remains the same: to stop terrorist attacks. We are determined to apply all of the tools at our disposal to achieve the first duty of any Government, that of protecting the British public.”
“All of this must be done in line with our broad and firm commitment to protect the fundamental rights and liberties that we all hold dear.”
“As I made clear at the outset, effective counter-terrorism work relies not only on Government but on the continued efforts and co-operation of many individuals working across a range of sectors.”
“To deal with these challenges it’s clear to me that we all need to listen to the views of all those who can help improve our understanding of how best to reduce the risk terrorism poses.”
