Country Report on Terrorism 2018 - Chapter 1 - United Kingdom

Overview: The United Kingdom remains one of the strongest and most able U.S. partners in the global fight against terrorism, and cooperation with the United Kingdom on efforts to counter terrorism is excellent. The UK suffered no major terrorist attacks in 2018, though the country’s counterterrorism posture continues to be heavily influenced by the five major attacks in 2017. Throughout 2018, the terrorism threat level in the United Kingdom has been at the second-highest rating (severe), which means UK officials believe that an attack is highly likely. UK officials categorize Islamist terrorism as the greatest threat to national security, though both policy and operational officials say there is a rising threat from racially or ethnically motivated extremists. Since March 2017, police and security services have disrupted 13 Islamist and four racially or ethnically motivated plots.

In June 2018, the United Kingdom released its updated counterterrorism strategy, CONTEST, which was its first update since 2011. While the new CONTEST is currently cost-neutral, the document highlights new and ongoing pilot projects, including:

  1. Three multi-agency centers to review dormant terrorism investigations and support local-level interventions, as warranted.
  2. Expanding public-private partnerships to better protect economic infrastructure.
  3. Expanding the Desistance and Disengagement Programme, for individuals who are already engaging in terrorist related activity, with the aim of reintegrating them safely back into society.
  4. Enhancing the ability at the border to target individuals and goods of concern, including better data and analytics.
  5. Enhancing capabilities to detect terrorist activity involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives material and their precursors, and to control and safeguard these materials.

The threat level for Northern Ireland-related terrorism within Northern Ireland, set separately for Northern Ireland and Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland), remains severe. In October 2018, the four-member Independent Reporting Commission published the first of four annual reports assessing that paramilitarism remains “a stark reality of life” in Northern Ireland and noted that the “absence of political decision making” since the collapse of Northern Ireland’s devolved government in January 2017 has had a “major adverse impact” on efforts to end paramilitarism.

As a partner in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, the United Kingdom continued to contribute to stabilization efforts in Iraq and northeastern Syria. The United Kingdom is also working with regional partners to develop border infrastructure, watchlists, and biometric capabilities to counter FTF movement. The United Kingdom reports that approximately 900 individuals traveled from the United Kingdom to engage in the conflict in Syria and Iraq. Of these, approximately 20 percent are believed dead, 40 percent have returned to the United Kingdom, and 40 percent remain in the conflict zone or unaccounted for.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Accompanying CONTEST, the UK government introduced the Counterterrorism and Border Security Bill 2018, which was debated throughout the second half of 2018 and is expected to pass in 2019.

The United Kingdom structures counterterrorism policing efforts around a network of regional counterterrorism units and counterterrorism intelligence units comprised of MI5 and regional police forces such as the Metropolitan Police. Counterterrorism efforts are managed through National Counter Terrorism Policing Headquarters, which is responsible for unified counterterrorism policy and strategy. The central operational command for regional counterterrorism units is the National Counter Terrorism Policing Operations Center, which consists of specialized teams responsible for all ports, intelligence, and operational coordination. According to Home Office figures, the United Kingdom made 351 arrests for terrorism-related activity from January through June 2018. While senior officials cite this as a 22 percent drop from the previous year, the Metropolitan police do not assess this as a diminishing threat level, and say there are approximately 700 active investigations, involving about 3,000 individuals. From June 2017 through June 2018, the United Kingdom convicted 90 people of terrorism-related offenses, and currently have over 200 people in custody on allegations of the same types of offenses.

The United Kingdom has advanced biometric screening capabilities at some points of entry, and utilizes biometrics for vetting during the visa process and identity verification; some ports of entry, such as ferry ports, have no biometric screening. All major airports in the United Kingdom use e-gate technology for passengers presenting UK, EU, European Economic Area, or Swiss passports, and the United Kingdom has announced plans to expand to include all Five Eyes travelers (Australia, Canada, United States, and New Zealand). E-gate incorporates facial recognition technology to match travelers with data recorded in the e-chip of eligible passports.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: The United Kingdom is a member of the FATF and has observer or cooperating status in the following FATF-style regional bodies: Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG); the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF); the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG); and the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF). The UK FIU is a member of the Egmont Group. The UK 2018 FATF Mutual Evaluation Report found that they are “highly effective” in the terrorist financing elements of the assessment.

In May, the UK Parliament passed the 2018 Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act. Under the Act, the government can impose sanctions, for the purposes of furthering the prevention of terrorism, on a person or group if there are reasonable grounds to suspect they have been involved in a terrorist activity. The United Kingdom shares terrorist financing information between the financial sector, law enforcement, and regulators through the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Task Force. The United Kingdom implements the EU Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive entered into force in July 2018, with a transposition deadline during January 2020.

The United Kingdom actively prosecutes those involved in terrorist financing. Since 2001, at least 70 individuals have been charged under “fundraising”-related sections of the Terrorism Act 2000, and of those, at least 32 individuals were convicted. Additionally, individuals suspected (but not charged) of funding terrorism were convicted of related offenses, such as training for terrorism, fraud, and money laundering.

The United Kingdom complies with its obligations under the UN Security Council ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qa’ida sanctions regime. As of June 2018, the United Kingdom had US $89,334 of terrorist assets frozen under EU Regulation 881/2002, which implements the UN Security Council ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qa’ida sanctions regime, and an additional US $11,482 frozen under the Terrorist Asset Freezing Act 2010.

For additional information on money laundering and financial crimes, see the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume II, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes.

Countering Violent Extremism: In January 2018, the Home Secretary appointed former campaigner and charity leader Sara Khan to lead the Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE), a non-statutory expert committee of the Home Office. The CCE operates independently from CONTEST (which covers integration policy) and covers the UK Counter Extremist Strategy. The CCE is currently conducting a broad study of “Far Right and Islamist extremism” and its deep impact on individuals, communities, and wider British society.

Regarding the Strong Cities Network, Luton joined Birmingham and London as members in 2018, with Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, and Cardiff in the process of joining. During 2017-18, 67 city-level officials and civil society partners from London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, and Luton participated in exchange programs with U.S. counterparts in Los Angeles, Denver, Boston, Seattle, and Portland, sharing lessons learned and best practice for preventing identity-based violence, safeguarding vulnerable populations, and building social cohesion and community resilience to terrorist radicalization.

International and Regional Cooperation: The United Kingdom continued to strongly support counterterrorism efforts in regional and multilateral organizations, as well as through the GCTF and an international task force assisting countries develop CVE plans. In September 2018, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Australia announced a joint GCTF initiative to develop a toolkit on preventing and countering violent extremism and terrorism online, and hosted the launch event of a GCTF initiative on returning families of FTFs.