Foreign Nations and the Threats They Face

This paper explores terrorism as one of the significant threats in the United Kingdom. Even though terrorism does not have a universally decided definition, the term is understood mainly as the coercive method that adopts or threatens to adopt violence to spread fear to achieve ideological or political goals.[1] Therefore, contemporary terrorist threats are distinguished in international laws from ordinary violence by the standard terrorist triangle: A attacking B, to coerce or convince C to shift its stand concerning some policy or actions sought after by A.[2] The threats or fear as a form of violence is directed, without warning, against civilians, state officials, and military facilities putting pressure on governments and other third parties to change their position or policy.[3] As a global partner in the fight against terrorism, the UK faces different magnitude of terrorism incidences, which warrants a study.

The terrorism threat in the UK was rated third-highest (substantial) for most of 2020. After terrorism attacks in Austria and France on November 3^rd, 2020, the UK increased its terrorism threats as severe, increasing the country’s terrorism threat assessment to “highly likely” from “likely.” The UK government classified Islamic terror threats as the greatest threat to the nation’s national security and recognized the rising threat of ethically and racially motivated violent extremisms (REMVE), which state officials call “extreme right-wing” terrorism. The UK law enforcement agencies disrupted 27 plots of terrorism between 2017 and 2020, eight classified as REMVE, while the rest linked to Islamic terrorism.[4] Terrorism threat levels remained severe in Northern Ireland, compared to Scotland, Wales, and England remained severed due to threats from rebel republican groups that opposed the British governance style and use of intimidations, and paramilitary approach of attacks exercise control over other states.[5] The report by the Independent Reporting Commission reported that the republican and loyalist paramilitarism remain a concern, though noted a decline in paramilitary-linked cases in 2020, primarily because of the covid-19 pandemic.[6]

            The UK suffered three accounts of terrorist incidences in 2020. The first one was January 9^th, where two Islamic extremist prisoners at Cambridgeshire maximum-security prison stabbed a prison officer using improvised bladed weapons, injuring five other prison staff in the process. On February 2^nd, a newly freed sentenced terrorist stabbed two individuals in Streatham, London. The terrorist was shot dead by the police while the debris hurt one looker-on. On June 20^th, a refugee of Libyan origin fatally stabbed three people in Reading, injuring three others. Even though the counter-terrorism unit flagged the attacker twice, they did not suspect he had the potential to stage an attack. The attacker was previously send to prison for life sentence because of a terrorist attack but later released on surveillance because of some gaps in the case.[7]

The UK has initiated several counter-terrorism strategies and policies to curb the imminent terror threats in the country’s borders. UK is one of the US’s key allies in the international battle against terrorism with excellent bilateral cooperation and policies. In February 2020, the UK parliament voted to enact Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act, ending the early release minus a Parole Board assessment for terrorist suspects. In May 2020, the parliament revised the UK Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill. The bill aims to increase the maximum imprisonment for terrorism crimes, creating a new and extended post-release trial regime for terrorist criminals, and making it easier for the law enforcement agency to enact stringent limitations on people suspected of planning terrorism activities but not yet charged with any crime in the court of law[8].

Between 2019 and 2020, UK law enforcement agencies made 215 detentions related to terrorism activities, out of which 55 of the offenders were convicted of terrorism-related crimes, and 5 received life sentences while others were awarded imprisonment of fewer than ten years. About 243 people were in prison in the UK, charged with terrorist-linked offenses[9]. In September 2020, the UK shared details with the US concerning the UK-origin ISIS fighters, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, also known as the “Beatles,” and they were successively brought to the US for prosecution[10]. UK has also begun the 2025 Border Strategy talks with US and other partners to reinforce UK border security using new digital technology systems by 2025. UK is currently adopting the cutting-edge biometric screening but lost the real-time EU information on automated fingerprint and DNA following the Brexit, which has weakened its ability to access and retain historical passenger biodata of terrorist trying to enter the UK illegally[11].

The UK instituted strict regulations to counter financing terrorism. The UK initiated “The Counter-Terrorism (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019″. The regulation took effect as of January 2019, following the expiry period of Brexit. As of March 2019, the UK had over US$92985 worth of terrorist-linked assets frozen under EU Regulation 881/2002, which implements al-Qa’ida Sanctions Committee and UN Security Council ISIL, and US$11,158 also frozen under Council Regulation (EU) No 2580/2001[12]. Measures to curtail terrorism are critical in the global fight against terrorism. Terrorism financing entails using illicit and licit funds in origin to support terrorist activities. Hence cutting the sources of such funds can save tragic losses of lives.

The UK also continues the fight against terrorism through regional and international cooperation. The UK is a critical member of the Five-Country Ministerial (FCM), which brings together ministers from five key countries, the United States, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, to promote multilateral talks on counter-terrorism and border security. FCM aims to enhance lawful government access to suspected terrorist contents or data. British is also a permanent member of the UN Security Council and plays a crucial role in setting up appropriate regulatory, legislative, and institutional frameworks to fight against global and UK terrorism threats[13].

Overall, this paper examines terrorism as one of the significant threats in the United Kingdom and counter-terrorism measures instated by the UK to counter the threats. Islamic terrorism is classified as a considerable terrorism threat in the UK, alongside ethically and racially motivated violent extremisms. The UK has passed several legislative policies, including increasing sentencing for suspected terrorism, to curb the threats, some of which have been very successful.

Bibliography

Awoviebe, Joy, David Lawson Gbigbidje, and O. Fredrick Temisere. “The Mass Media and International Terrorism.” International Scholars Journal of Arts and Social Science Research 1, no. 2 (2019): 13-13.

Borsuk, İmren. “Violence and Security Concerns in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland.” All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace 5, no. 2 (2016): 47-62.

Flack, Patrick, and Neil Ferguson. “Conflict transformation: Relinquishing or maintaining social identity among former loyalist combatants in Northern Ireland.” Political Psychology 42, no. 2 (2021): 185-200.

Jongman, Albert J. Political terrorism: A new guide to actors, authors, concepts, databases, theories, and literature. Routledge, 2017.

Monar, Jörg. “The EU as an international counter-terrorism actor: Progress and constraints.” Intelligence and National Security 30, no. 2-3 (2015): 333-356.

Tian, Hao. “The future trend of Uk’s Counter-terrorism Intelligence Work in the Post-Brexit Era and its enlightenment to China.” Journal of Political Science Research 1 (2021): 17-26.

US Department of State (2020). Country Reports on Terrorism 2020: United Kingdom. Bureau of Counterterrorism. Available at < https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2020/united-kingdom/> [Accessed on February 2^nd, 2022).

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[1] Jongman, Albert J. Political terrorism: A new guide to actors, authors, concepts, data bases, theories, and literature. Routledge, 2017.

[2] Awoviebe, Joy, David Lawson Gbigbidje, and O. Fredrick Temisere. “The Mass Media and International Terrorism.” International Scholars Journal of Arts and Social Science Research 1, no. 2 (2019): 13-13.

[3] Jongman, Albert, 23

[4] US Department of State (2020). Country Reports on Terrorism 2020: United Kingdom. Bureau of Counterterrorism. Available at < https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2020/united-kingdom/> [Accessed on February 2^nd, 2022).

[5] Borsuk, İmren. “Violence and Security Concerns in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland.” All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace 5, no. 2 (2016): 47-62.

[6] Flack, Patrick, and Neil Ferguson. “Conflict transformation: Relinquishing or maintaining social identity among former loyalist combatants in Northern Ireland.” Political Psychology 42, no. 2 (2021): 185-200.

[7] US Department of State 2020.

[8] Walker, C., 2022. Counter-terrorism through precursor crimes. In Precursor Crimes of Terrorism. Edward Elgar Publishing.

[9] US Department of State 2020

[10] US Department of State 2020

[11] Tian, Hao. “The future trend of Uk’s Counter-terrorism Intelligence Work in the Post-Brexit Era and its enlightenment to China.” Journal of Political Science Research 1 (2021): 17-26.

[12] US Department of State 2020

[13] Monar, Jörg. “The EU as an international counter-terrorism actor: Progress and constraints.” Intelligence and National Security 30, no. 2-3 (2015): 333-356.