Security chiefs: we don't have enough spies to tackle terror threat

SECURITY chiefs have admitted that at least 2,000 terrorists are on the loose in the UK and they do not have enough officers to properly track their movements.

SECURITY chiefs have admitted that at least 2,000 terrorists are on the loose in the UK and they do not have enough officers to properly track their movements.

A report from a House of Commons committee also warns that other threats such as organised crime are not being properly tackled because of the scale of Islamist extremism.

The admissions are contained in the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) report for 2006-07, which is based on evidence from top MI5 and MI6 officials.

The authors of the report, which has been passed to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, openly admit there is no guarantee that further atrocities such as 7/7 can be prevented in the UK.

The report states: "To give an idea of the scale of the threat, there are approximately 200 extremist networks currently under investigation, some of which have both the intent and the capability to carry out attacks against the UK or UK interests overseas. There will be still others about which little or nothing is known."

The report reveals the total number of security service personnel – MI5, MI6 and dedicated police – is around 3,200, although a further 690 will be recruited over the next 12 months.

Ever since the end of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, much of MI5's work has been redirected towards combating crimes such as major narcotics trafficking and organised crime.

However, since the rise in the terror threat, manpower is being transferred away from these fields, as highlighted by an unidentified member of the Security Services who addressed the committee.

He told members: "I think the scale of the international terrorist threat at the moment is such – and the consequences, if we are unable to manage it successfully nationally I think, are so severe – that we have not had any choice but to prioritise other areas. Some of the changes, I suspect, probably will not quickly reverse. I suspect we will be quite slow to get back into serious crime work, for instance.

"We are concerned that aspects of key intelligence and security work are suffering as a consequence of the focus on counter-terrorism priorities."

Fighting international counter-terrorism makes up 80% of the Security Services's annual workload, a 10% increase on 2005-06, says the report.

According to the report, a "former director-general" of the Security Service (MI5] reported to the committee that: "My main concern has been and still is we do not have enough people to do the job."

But the unidentified former

chief warned that although recruitment to the service was being increased, it was important to ensure the quality of new staff remained high.

The speaker added: "Maintaining standards is incredibly important because people get access to secrets and responsibility and the capacity to make a major mistake very early on."

The chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, the SIS, or MI6, John Scarlett, told MPs that a specialist unit of his department had been set up to target extremism in the UK.

He said the move had been made to "illuminate… the interface between al-Qaeda and radicalised British Muslims essentially to catch the connection between… the domestic aspect of the threat and the overseas aspect of the threat".

But the committee was told that "SIS's greater focus on counter-terrorism has led to a significant increase in the number of direct 'disruption operations' against terrorist targets throughout the year.

"The total number of these operations has increased by almost 50% compared with the previous year, and the number of these operations judged to have caused 'significant disruption' to the terrorist targets has almost doubled."

But MPs were told these successes have come at a price, with inquiries using up large amounts of the annual budget. Among these investigations was 'Operation Crevice', which led to the jailing of five men for their part in a plot to blow up targets such as the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent and the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London.

Last night, security consultant Stuart Crawford told Scotland on Sunday: "You cannot not take all of these groups seriously.

"The terrorists only need to get it right once but the security services need to get it right every time."

He continued: "All the implications are that Islamic terrorist movements who are working across the globe are targeting the UK and the US because of their involvement in Afghanistan. And it is only to be expected that the security services, as a result of this, are having to prioritise what they investigate."

Another terrorism expert, David Capitanchik, said he was not surprised at MI5's claims they did not have sufficient numbers to tackle the threat. "One problem for MI5 is that it takes between six and nine months to recruit one counter-terrorism employee.

"There is a whole process which must be followed to ensure that recruits are not terrorists themselves.

"There are two main problems. Firstly, there are not enough resources for counter-terrorism, and secondly, we have allowed all sorts of people into the country who are wanted for terrorism in their own countries."

Capitanchik added: "It will take a long time to deal with this problem. There are so many people that we need to put under surveillance and there may be other groups operating on university campuses and in mosques that we just do not know about."