About seven possible terror
attacks across the United Kingdom have been reportedly discovered and stopped
over the past year by a special department of the UK intelligence agency – the MI5
which reads the minds of would-be attackers, the agency says.
MI5's Behavioural Science Unit
(BSU), made up of criminologists, psychologists and other academics, was
launched in 2004 to analyse suspects’ behaviours to determine whether they are
about to carry out an attack.
The BSU’s aim is to find out
whether those flagged as potential threats are “talkers or walkers” –
those who boast or those who are prepared to act, according to The Sunday
Times.
People selected for
surveillance are chosen through intelligence gathered from the agency’s network
of informants, as well as from the public.
The experts then search for
signs of unusual activity such as an “increasing sense of grievance, a
desire to acquire skills and tactics – an attempt to identify material for
their plans and logistical practice and trial runs.”
According to Neil, an Arabic
and Norwegian speaker who has worked for the unit for six years, “it takes
some doing to go from talking about carrying out a violent act like killing to
actually doing it.”
The experts work in an office
overlooking several London landmarks which are potential targets for terror
groups, and have developed a database from studying past attacks.
Research by MI5 shows that more
than 60 percent of lone wolf attackers provide clues that they are about to
strike with changes in their behaviour, the agency says.
For instance, the BSU says that
Roshonara Choudhry, who was inspired by Al-Qaeda, showed clear signs of change
in her life before she stabbed MP Stephen Timms in 2010.
Choudhry quit her college
course, cleared out her bank accounts to stop authorities from having access to
her money, and settled her student loan, fearing her parents would be liable
for the debt, before carrying out the attack.
The 'mind reading' unit has
doubled in size since the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby in 2013 by
Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, two Muslim converts who displayed
subtle signs of becoming more radical in the lead-up to the attack, a
subsequent report by parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee found.
“We deal with probabilities and
that is the nature of our work,” Neil said. “We provide an assessment
of the subject of interest but the final decision lies with the [investigating]
officer.”
“When it comes to lone actors,
we have to question why they have chosen to act alone. Is it because it is more
operationally effective? Is it because others don’t want to be involved in
their plot? Is it because they cannot relate to others or others find them to
obnoxious to work with them?” Neil continued.
“In some cases, we may have
very little information on a high profile subject, in others we may have lots.
It varies.”
Neil says the assumption that
many extremists have mental health problems is wrong.
“Only two percent of members of
terrorist organisations suffer from mental health problems, compared with an
average of up to 30 percent of members of the public,” he said.
The BSU and other security
services are monitoring hundreds of suspected British jihadists, including 400
who have returned to the UK after traveling to Syria.
Culled from Russia Times
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