![]() It would be useful to remind ourselves that 67 British citizens died in the 9/11 attacks. From Al Qaida's perspective the attacks were their most audacious and ambitious representing an impressive demonstration of the organisation's capability to plan, co-ordinate and execute simultaneous attacks against the United States. These were dramatic and devastating attacks, resulting in major loss of life, destruction of property and economic damage across the globe. That attack was the single biggest terrorist outrage on UK soil which led to the most intensive, lengthy and complex investigation (and subsequent prosecution) in UK history.īut the events of September 11 were a watershed in the history of terrorism. Some of the language used to describe the impact of 9/11 was used much earlier in 1988 to describe the terrorist bombing of PA103 over Lockerbie. I can remember that too was a period when international terrorism dominated the headlines. Our pre-occupations then were the state sponsors of terrorism and terrorism linked to nationalism. In the late 1980s I was Head of one of the Service's international counter terrorist sections. During my own career I have seen significant changes in the international terrorist threat. It is a development of a threat that has been with us for many years. I will come back to those points later.įor practitioners, the threat from international terrorism is not a "new" phenomenon. I agree with some of those sentiments but disagree with others. I am struck that the post 9/11 language of counter terrorism is dominated by the word "new": new groups, new threats and the need for new types of response. I am the first to concede that security and intelligence services do not have a monopoly of wisdom on this subject. some personal thoughts about the future nature of the threat.Īlthough my duties as the Director General keep me pretty busy, I do take time to read what is being written by commentators and other writers who have a different perspective on the counter terrorism business.the response of my Service, and others, to the events of 9/11.an overview of the terrorist threat to the UK.I hope that I will be able to shed some light on the Security Service's view of a complex problem that we all face. Conferences such as this contribute to the debate about how we respond to terrorism. Countering terrorism is an important issue, and not one limited to the intelligence agencies and the police. I am grateful to the Director of RUSI for inviting me to speak at the opening session of this conference. The lecture by the Director General of the Security Service, Eliza Manningham-Buller, at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Conference on "The Oversight of Intelligence and Security". ![]()
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