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Fri 05/11/2010 16:19

Dear colleague,

Please find attached this week’s News Summary. The weekly summary is intended to provide
background information to topical news stories and issues that may resonate in communities. The
weekly summary also includes links to interesting news articles that people may wish to circulate
further.

This week’s summary includes:

 Speech by the Home Secretary on Counter Terrorism

 Yemen Bomb plot

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As ever we would appreciate your feedback on the format, content and timing of the News
Summary as well as suggestions on issues you would like it to cover. Please email
ricu@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk with comments or if you would like to subscribe.

Regards,

Naomi

Naomi Line
Strategic Communications Advisor, News Co-ordination Team
RICU (Research, Information and Communications Unit)
Office for Security and Counter Terrorism
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF
Tel: 0207 035 0236

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Weekly News Summary

Friday 5th November 2010

Key Issues
The Home Secretary gives her first speech on Counter Terrorism
In her first major speech on counter-terrorism, the Home Secretary Theresa May has said that tough
decisions will be taken to protect the British public from further attack. Speaking at independent think tank
RUSI, the Home Secretary outlined her plans to deal with the threat of terrorism, which she called 'more
diverse and more fragmented than ever'.
The Home Secretary said that the Government’s priorities are to:
enhance protective security measures;
invest in conflict prevention and stopping overseas terrorist plots;
refocus the UK strategy for preventing radicalisation; and
strike a better balance between liberty and security.
The Home Secretary said that lessons will be learned following the recent airline bomb plot:
“The specifics of the attack – notably the type of device and how it was concealed – were new to us.
As a result, all aspects of freight security will be urgently reviewed, and updated guidance will be
issued to airport security personnel.”
The Home Secretary explained that the nature of the terrorist threat has changed in recent years. Although
Al Qa’ida is 'weaker than at any time since 9/11,' other groups now 'aspire to attack us'. Pointing to affiliate
Al Qa’ida groups in North Africa, Somalia and Yemen, she explained:
“We see the continued emergence of a more diverse and devolved terrorist threat, without a strong,
directive and commanding centre and joined more by ideology than hierarchy.”
The Home Secretary confirmed that all funding for core counter-terrorist capabilities in policing and other
agencies will be maintained. Over £2bn has been allocated for counter-terrorism policing alone in the next
four years and there will also be increased investment in police firearms capability in order to deal with the
threat of a Mumbai-style attack in the UK.
Associated articles:
Home Office website – click here to read the full speech

Yemen bomb plot

On Friday 29 October a suspect package was discovered on board a freight plane which had landed at
East Midlands Airport on route to Chicago. A similar device was located and identified in Dubai. Both
packages originated in Yemen and were addressed to synagogues in Chicago.
Subsequent investigations by the police have indicated that this package contained a sophisticated and
viable explosive device which, if detonated, could have bought down the aircraft.
The Government immediately banned the movement of all unaccompanied airfreight originating in
Yemen from moving into or through the UK. Direct flights from Yemen to the UK were suspended
earlier this year following a re-assessment of security after the failed attack on a US airliner destined
for Detroit on 25th December 2009.
In a statement to the House of Commons on 1st November, the Prime Minister said:
"The fact that the device was being carried from Yemen to the UAE to Germany and Britain en
route to America shows the interest of the whole world in coming together to deal with this.

The threat from the Arabian Peninsula and from Yemen in particular has grown...
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 It is clear we must take every possible step to work with our partners in the Arab world to cut out the
terrorist cancer that lurks in the Arabian Peninsula."
In a statement to Parliament on 1st November the Home Secretary announced further measures
being taken to maintain security. She said we would:

 review all aspects of air freight security and work with international partners to make sure that our
defences are as robust as possible.
 update the guidance given to airport security personnel based on what we have learned to enable
them to identify similar packages in future.
The Home Secretary also announced a number of measures that would come into effect from mid-night on
1 November which included: the suspension of unaccompanied air freight to the UK from Yemen and
Somalia, a suspension of the carriage of toner cartridges larger than 500g in passengers’ hand baggage on
flights departing from UK airports and prohibiting the carriage of these items by air cargo into, via or from
the UK unless they originate from a known consignor.
Key points
Since the package was discovered, an intensive investigation has been taking place in this country
and overseas.
It is believed that the devices were made and dispatched by Al Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula.
There is no evidence at this stage that the perpetrators intended to detonate the device over British
soil.
There is no information to suggest that another attack of a similar nature by Al Qa’ida in the Arabian
Peninsula is imminent. But this organisation is very active. The police continue to liaise closely with
agencies in the UK and abroad.
The Government will work closely with the aviation industry, screening equipment manufacturers
and others, to devise a sustainable, proportionate, long-term security regime to address the threat.
The Government has long recognised the threat of terrorism emanating from Yemen, most recently
demonstrated by the discovery of explosives on planes in the UK and UAE. That is why the UK has
been leading efforts to assist the Government of Yemen in tackling this threat, as well as the root
causes of instability in Yemen.
UK assistance to Yemen includes counter terrorism training, reform of the judicial sector, economic
development and support for the National Dialogue process. This is in the context of the wider
Friends of Yemen process, in order to ensure a comprehensive approach to Yemen.

Associated articles
BBC – Air Freight from Yemen and Somalia Banned
The Guardian - Cargo Plane Bomb Plot

Other News Stories from this Week:

The following are interesting news items that we think people may want to circulate further:
The Governor of Helmand Province meets with Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox - and the newly appointed
Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir David Richards, during a visit from Afghanistan to London. Governor Mangal
spent time with Dr Fox discussing the current situation in Helmand Province where the bulk of Britain's 9,500
troops are deployed.
He also visited the National Memorial Arboretum where he paid tribute to the sacrifice of UK troops. When
talking to Lucy Aldridge, whose 18-year-old son William was the youngest UK soldier to die in Afghanistan to
date, Gulabuddin Mangal said “I am looking forward for a day, a peaceful day, in Afghanistan that we can invite
you to see our country very secure and to see what your son was fighting for."

Woman who stabbed MP was inspired by Al Qa’ida - A police source has claimed that Roshonara Choudhry,
who stabbed Stephen Timms MP in May, was radicalised after watching internet sermons given by Anwar al-
Awlaki, an Islamist cleric in Yemen. Choudhry was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Please email ricu@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

with comments or if you would like to subscribe