The United Kingdom S Strategy For Countering International Terrorism Annual Report March 2010

This document presents the first annual report on the work done in 2009-10 by Government departments and agencies under the United Kingdom's strategy, known as CONTEST, for countering the threat from international terrorism. The aim of CONTEST is to reduce the risk to the United Kingdom and its interests overseas from international terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence. The report sets out the strategic context and details the response under the pursue, prevent, protect and prepare headings, and with a separate section on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Cross-cutting issues covered include: chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons and explosives; Olympic safety and security programme; communications.

In 2011 the Government committed to produce an annual report on CONTEST. This report (prepared by the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism in the Home Office, responsible for co-ordinating CONTEST) covers the period from July 2011 to December 2012, to enable inclusion of security work for the Olympic Games. This report does not cover domestic terrorism in Northern Ireland, responsibility for which lies with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. After a very rapid increase between 2003 and 2008, the number of terrorist attacks around the world has levelled off, and casualties from terrorism have marginally declined. But the global threat from terrorism remains high. In 2011 (the latest year for which statistics are available), over 10,000 terrorist attacks occurred in some 70 countries, causing almost 45,000 casualties and over 12,500 fatalities. About three quarters of those attacks occurred in the Near East and South Asia; attacks in Africa and the Western Hemisphere were at a five-year high. Since the publication of CONTEST in July 2011, the threat to the UK from international terrorism (which is set by theJoint Terrorism Analysis Centre) has remained at 'SUBSTANTIAL', meaning that the threat of a terrorist attack remains a strong possibility and may occur without warning. In the twelve months to 30 September 2012, there were 245 terrorism-related arrests in Great Britain: 45 people were charged with terrorism-related offences and 18 convicted; a further 25 people were awaiting trial as at 18 January 2013.

This document sets out the United Kingdom's strategy, known as CONTEST, for countering the threat from international terrorism. The aim of CONTEST is to reduce the risk to the United Kingdom (UK) and its interests overseas from international terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence. This is a revised and more detailed version of the strategy contained in "The national security strategy of the United Kingdom" (Cm. 7291, 2008, ISBN 9780101729123). The first part sets the context with a brief history of the changing threat to the United Kingdom and to UK interests overseas from international terrorism, examines the present threat, the factors which are shaping it and the assumptions about how it may develop. The second part sets out the principles which will govern the strategy, including a commitment to human rights and the rule of law, recognition of the need to address the causes as well as the symptoms of terrorism and the need to co-operate with other countries. The four main streams of the CONTEST strategy are: (1) pursue - to stop terrorist attacks; (2) prevent - to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism; (3) protect - to strengthen our protection against terrorist attack; (4) prepare - where an attack cannot be stopped, to mitigate its impact. The third part of the document outlines who will deliver the strategy and how its impact will be measured. The document concludes with a section explaining the importance of communications as a part of the counter-terrorism strategy.

Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications. Dated April 2014

Dated March 2015. Print and web pdfs available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications Web ISBN=9781474116886

Dated March 2015. A TSO version of a title previously published by HM Government.

Since 2003 the United Kingdom has had a long-term strategy for countering international terrorism. It is divided into four strands: prevent; pursue; protect and prepare. Prevent - means tackling factors that might radicalise individuals, deterring those who facilitate terrorism and engaging in the battle of idea. Pursue - involves the gathering of intelligence, disruption of terrorist activities and international cooperation. Protect - includes strengthening border security and protecting key utilities. Prepare - means identifying potential risks and building the capability to respond to attacks. This publication describes the strategy and what has been done to implement it. It also contains an insert that describes the system to assess the threat level from international terrorism.

The Prevent strategy, launched in 2007 seeks to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism both in the UK and overseas. It is the preventative strand of the government's counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. Over the past few years Prevent has not been fully effective and it needs to change. This review evaluates work to date and sets out how Prevent will be implemented in the future. Specifically Prevent will aim to: respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it; prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support; and work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalization which need to be addressed