British Transport Police assistant chief constable says officers should have been patrolling site of attack
A senior police chief has admitted that officers who failed to patrol the site of the Manchester Arena bomb “let the public down”.
An inquiry into the terrorist attack heard that two British Transport Police (BTP) officers left the area to take a meal break of more than two hours, involving a five-mile trip to buy kebabs.
Continue reading...Met police counter-terror unit has been asked to investigate allegations, court hears
Counter-terrorism police have been asked to investigate claims that witnesses and claimants in a terror-funding case were intimidated by officials working for the state of Qatar, the high court has been told.
Allegations of perverting the course of justice emerged at the hearing in London on Wednesday in a case involving compensation claims submitted originally by eight Syrian refugees against Doha Bank, the headquarters of which are in the Gulf state.
Continue reading...Acts of state violence, and repeated official denials, drove some Northern Irish Catholics to armed resistance. But not everyone in west Belfast supported the IRA’s methods
When Johnston Brown, a 27-year-old detective with the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) – the overwhelmingly protestant police force of Northern Ireland – volunteered in late 1977 to serve at Andersonstown police barracks in Catholic west Belfast, he was given a few pieces of very clear advice. He should never stop at a red light in west Belfast if it was safe to drive on. He should assume that any pedestrians who wanted to cross the road may be part of a trap – members of the security forces had lost their lives this way. Nor should Brown ever indicate that he was turning into a police barracks. He should approach with the flow of the traffic and then swerve suddenly in through the gates, to reduce the risk of being shot, and to make it harder for anyone to make a note of his registration number. And if he were unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of gunmen, he must attempt to shoot his way out – never try to talk himself out of trouble.
“I remember clearly,” Brown wrote in 2005, “one older detective sergeant, a man in his late 40s, telling me sternly: ‘Here you have at most between five and eight minutes at the door of any house you may call at on an enquiry. You have that much time to conduct the enquiry and get the hell out of those areas, because five to eight minutes is all the time it takes for the Provos [the Provisional IRA] to get hold of a weapon and a volunteer who will be only too keen to kill you before you conduct your enquiry and leave.’”
Continue reading...Ken McCallum also pledges to boost diversity in the service as response to Black Lives Matter movement
MI5’s new boss has said the spy threats posed by China and Russia to the UK are “growing in severity and complexity” while the terrorist threat from Isis and the far right “persists at scale”.
Giving his first speech since his domestic spy agency’s director general in April, Ken McCallum focused on risks from hostile states, including undermining “the integrity of UK research” on a coronavirus vaccine.
Continue reading...John Atkinson arrived at hospital 90 minutes after terror attack and later died of blood loss
A victim of the Manchester Arena attack who had to wait more than 40 minutes after the bombing to be evacuated from the scene told a paramedic: “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”, a public inquiry has heard.
John Atkinson, 28, was not taken from the blast site for 46 minutes, before being carried on a cardboard advertising hoarding to a casualty clearing station.
Continue reading...Government says bill is not a ‘licence to kill’ but critics call for limits on agents’ activities
A bill allowing confidential informants working for MI5 and the police to break the law will be introduced on Thursday amid a row about whether committing crimes such as murder and torture should be explicitly banned.
The government says that the covert human intelligence sources bill does not amount to a “licence to kill” because it will be compliant with the European convention on human rights, which safeguards the right to life and prohibits torture.
Continue reading...Over the past 20 years, the military intelligence agency has stolen information from targets around the world
Liam Fox, the former UK trade secretary, is merely the latest in a long line of victims apparently duped by the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency.
Over the past two decades GRU spies have stolen classified information from numerous targets around the world. According to Reuters, last summer they broke into Fox’s email account. They made off with secret US-UK trade documents later dumped out before the 2019 election.
Continue reading...MPs who compiled the Russia report were incredulous at Britain’s reluctance to tackle Kremlin
In September 2015 a tall young man with jet black hair and a pleasant grin made his way to Doncaster. His name was Alexander Udod. With the EU referendum vote on the horizon, Udod was attending Ukip’s annual conference. In theory he was a political observer. Actually Udod was an undercover spy, based at the Russian embassy in London.
Udod chatted with the man who would play a key role in Brexit – the Bristol businessman Arron Banks. The spy invited Banks to meet the Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko. What allegedly followed was a series of friendly encounters between Leave.EU and the Russians in the crucial months before the June 2016 poll: a boozy lunch, pints in a Notting Hill pub, and the offer of a Siberian gold deal. (Banks denies receiving money from Russia and previously stated his only contact with the Russian government in the run-up to the referendum consisted of “one boozy lunch” with the ambassador.)
Continue reading...Alexander Temerko admits being a Tory activist but not a Kremlin ally as Russia report published
In the wake of the long-awaited publication of the Russia report into interference in UK democracy, one of the most prominent Soviet-born donors to the Conservative party has said he is no “friend of Putin” and called for greater scrutiny of British ex-politicians working for Russian state firms.
In an interview with the Guardian Alexander Temerko said he welcomed the publication of the intelligence and security committee’s (ISC) Russia report, which accused the government of turning a blind eye to Kremlin interference. “Better late than never. They finally published it,” he said.
Continue reading...In the week that MPs published their report, ministers said Russian state-sponsored hackers were targeting UK scientists developing a coronavirus vaccine
Continue reading...Counter-espionage laws to be strengthened as government accused of failing to respond to security threat
Legislation to clamp down on foreign spying is being considered by Downing Street in the wake of a damning report laying bare the impact of Russian influence in Britain and accusing the government of “badly” underestimating the threat posed by the Kremlin.
Under the new legislation, foreign agents would have to register in the UK in a move modelled on similar requirements in the US and Australia.
Continue reading...Document on Russian interference into UK politics blocked by Boris Johnson before election
The long-awaited Russia report from the UK parliament’s intelligence and security committee is due to be released on Tuesday morning, nine months after its publication was blocked by Boris Johnson before the general election.
An examination of the reach of the Kremlin into UK politics and public life, the document is the product of 18 months’ work by a cross-party committee taking evidence in secret from British intelligence and independent experts.
Continue reading...UK National Cyber Security Centre says drug firms and research groups being targeted by group known as APT29
Russian state-sponsored hackers are targeting UK, US and Canadian organisations involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine, according to British security officials.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said drug companies and research groups were being targeted by a group known as APT29, which was “almost certainly” part of the Kremlin’s intelligence services.
Continue reading...Sanctions target mid- or low-level officials and will have little impact on the wealthiest
He is known as Vladimir Putin’s enforcer. Almost every criminal case in Russia – from Pussy Riot to anti-government street protests – passes his desk. But as of last week Moscow’s top law officer, Alexander Bastrykin, is no longer welcome in Britain. He is banned from owning property, opening a bank account or popping over from Moscow for a weekend jaunt.
Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s powerful investigative committee, was one of 25 Russians sanctioned by the UK. All were allegedly involved in human rights abuses – specifically in the mistreatment of Sergei Magnitsky, who was beaten to death in 2009 in a Moscow jail. Bastrykin covered up the case, No 10 says. Others named and shamed include judges, interior ministry officials and prison staff.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Christopher Steele claims May government turned blind eye to Trump allegations
Boris Johnson and Theresa May ignored claims the Kremlin had a “likely hold” over Donald Trump and may have covertly funded Brexit, the former spy Christopher Steele alleges in secret evidence given to MPs who drew up the Russia report.
In testimony to MPs, the MI6 veteran accused the government led by May and in which Johnson was foreign secretary for two years of turning a blind eye to allegations about Trump because they were afraid of offending the US president.
Continue reading...Police appeal for information on Belfast shooting of Jean Smyth-Campbell
A senior detective investigating one of Britain’s most controversial spy scandals has appealed to both ex-IRA and retired soldiers to help him get the truth about the killing of a young woman in the Troubles.
Jon Boutcher is a former chief constable of Bedfordshire and the head of Operation Kenova, which is investigating the military intelligence agent known as Stakeknife who betrayed the IRA for three decades.
Continue reading...Former PM warns of security implications of no deal and threat to trade from travel restrictions
Theresa May has launched a double attack on Boris Johnson’s government, speaking in the Commons to first warn about the security implications of a final no-deal Brexit, and then against the coronavirus quarantine plans.
May, who has largely kept a low profile since returning to the backbenches, used prime minister’s questions to express worry at a lack of possible lack of intelligence and data sharing if the Brexit transition period ends without a formal agreement.
Continue reading...Cybersecurity is ‘alpha and omega’ of global security, says DGSE director, in callout to young people ‘connected to technology’
The French secret service wants to recruit geeks rather than budding young James Bonds as it adapts to new demands in the post-coronavirus world, its technical director has said.
In rare public comments, Patrick Pailloux said there was a danger that many young tech-savvy French people did not consider themselves suitable for the stereotypes of France’s directorate-general for external security (DGSE).
Continue reading...Research suggests 5% commit another terrorism offence after leaving prison
Convicted terrorists are extremely unlikely to reoffend compared with other prisoners, research by academics and security services in Europe has found.
The research shows that less than 5% of convicted terrorists commit a second terrorist offence after leaving prison. In England and Wales, around 45% of all prisoners will reoffend within a year of release.
Continue reading...Security services said last week that videoconferencing tool was vulnerable to surveillance
Government and parliament were told by the intelligence agencies last week not to use the videoconferencing service Zoom for confidential business, due to fears it could be vulnerable to Chinese surveillance.
The quiet warnings to limit the technology came after the cabinet had used Zoom to hold a well-publicised meeting at the end of March, a decision that was defended at the time as necessary in “unprecedented circumstances”.
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