Tony Blair's anti-jihadist programme has failed, says ex-MI5 chief
Last Updated: 11:08AM GMT 14/01/2015
Eliza Manningham-Buller, former head of MI5, says Prevent strategy has not stopped spread of jihadist ideology in Britain
A major counter-terrorism programme intended to stop young Muslims from being radicalised by jihadists is “clearly not working,” the former head of MI5 has warned.
Baroness Manningham Buller, who was the director general of the Security Service at the time of the 7/7 bombings, said the decision of 600 Britons to fight in Syria and Iraq with Isil was evidence that the Prevent scheme had failed.
After nearly a decade of trying to halt the spread of "toxci and murderous" jihadist ideology in Britain, the government still “do not really know what works,” she said.
She expressed doubts about plans set out by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to set Prevent in law, saying counter-radicalisation had to be led by moderate Muslims rather than the state.
Lady Manningham-Buller was speaking in the Lords during the second reading of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, which will give the security services new powers to move terrorism suspects away from their homes and seize the passports of those travelling to Syria and Iraq to join Isil.
It came as Lord Evans, her successor as director general, used his maiden speech in the Lords to warn that the public could turn to “vigilantism” due to the atmosphere of “fear” about terrorism. He warned that the Prevent programme is under pressure because of the hesitancy of the government “to acknowledge or engage with the religious dimension of the threat that we face”.
The Prevent programme, set up in the wake of the 7/7 attacks, funds community groups to “rebut” extremist views and offer positive alternative interpretations of Islam to those at risk of radicalisation. Under a scheme called Channel, potential jihadists are mentored and given “diversionary activities”.
The programme also includes the police removing online extremist content and blocking “apologists for terrorism” entering Britain.
In a candid assessment, Lady Manningham-Buller, a former teacher who led the Security Service from 2002 to 2007 and spent much of her career battling the IRA, told the Lords: “It seems to me that Prevent is clearly not working.”
“This is not altogether surprising because it is difficult. We do not really know what works. I retired nearly eight years ago. I know that a great deal of effort has gone into thinking about how to counter this toxic and murderous ideology. I believe that we must have a better understanding of the roots of terrorism than we used to, and a better understanding of how to divert people—particularly vulnerable young people who have, in some cases, been groomed and exploited—from their path.
“Some of those who come back from Syria will not be terrorists; some need to be reintegrated. The Channel programme is obviously to be applauded, but I am still concerned that it is bound to be slow, even over the long term.
“It is understandable that it will be slow, but we do not seem—I beg to be corrected by others who are more up to date than me—to be having much effect. We are told that 600 dangerous extremists who are British citizens have fought in Syria. That is a large number. If Prevent had been working for the past 10 years, we might not have seen so many going."
“It follows that I rather doubt that the Government, however laudable their efforts, are well placed to counter this ideology. A lead on that has and is beginning to come from moderate, mainstream Islam, which has itself suffered so much from the distorted version of its faith propounded by terrorists. One of the most appalling scenes from Paris was that of the Muslim policeman on the pavement being executed brutally by one of the terrorists.
“It also follows, therefore, that I am not convinced of the value of putting Prevent on a statutory footing. I am out of date. The Government may be able to convince me, but I cannot see how legislation can really govern hearts, minds and free speech.”
The Telegraph has revealed how many of those tasked with mentoring would-be jihadists on Channel have links to extremists mosques.
Baroness Neville-Jones, the former security minister and former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, told the debate the conflict with Isil will “spread and intensify” and the “constant traffic” of fighters between Britain and the middle east poses an “extreme danger”.
She went on: “Paris did show us one thing, of which we should take note—that the individuals concerned used military training acquired in the Yemen to kill people on the streets of France. The people of this country will not be very forgiving if effective ways in which to disrupt terrorists who have been trained to kill should be available but are denied to the authorities and this country then suffers some kind of jihadi outrage.”
Lord Butler of Brockwell, the former Cabinet Secretary who sits on the Intelligence and Security Committee tasked with scrutinising the security services, attacked proposals championed by Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, for a new Privacy and Civil Liberties board.
The panel is proposed to give extra over-sight to the work of spies, but Lord Butler said it “smacks of gesture politics” and was a “knee-jerk reaction” to the Snowden revelations.
“Its purpose is nominally to support the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, but it is all too likely to be a fifth wheel on his coach—a coach which, as steered by the present reviewer and his predecessor, appears to have been running satisfactorily without that support. It may well be unwise to rush through the establishment of a body of this sort in the few weeks before a general election without more consideration,” he said.
The government's anti-terrorism strategy
Prevent is the first strand of CONTEST, the government's anti-terrorism strategy
Prevent aims to stop people becoming terrorists by halting the spread of extremist ideolog and mentoring young people at risk.
Pursue is the name given to the work of the security services in identifying and investigating plots and prosecuting terrorists.
Prepare refers to the work of responding to an attack, including the deployment of armed police and medical crews
Protect is the name given to the work of defending Britain's borders, reducing the vulnerability of the transport network and protecting crowded places such as shopping centres.
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