Jillian Becker

Jillian Becker is a South African born British based terrorologist with connections to a variety of intelligence and state connected groups including the Institute for the Study of Terrorism and the Freedom Association

Soviet terror network

In 1981 Paul Wilkinson's edited collection British Perspectives on Terrorism was published with a contribution from Jillian Becker, the main exponent of the Soviet terror network theory in Britain. Wilkinson wrote that Becker was 'a self-exiled South African novelist...[and] liberal writer [who] has chosen to leave the country of her birth and come and work in London.' This implied that she was an opponent of apartheid, when in fact she was a prominent apologist. Becker once wrote that the ANC is 'the only terrorist organisation in the world which is actually controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and supplied by the Russians with arms free of charge.' Becker edited the 1984 book The Soviet Union and Terrorism, and went on to found the Institute for the Study of Terrorism with Lord Chalfont in 1985. The Institute published a series of pamplets on 'Terrorism in South Africa'. One, published in 1986 called ANC: a Soviet task force?, Lord Chalfont explained in the foreword, sought to dispell 'one the myths carefully fostered by organs of progressive opinion...that the African National Congress is a straightforward nationalist movement, dedicated to the peaceful establishment of majority rule.' In fact he continued, the ANC had 'founded Umkhonto we Sizwe (the Spear of the Nation), a militant organization openly dedicated to the overthrow of the South African regime by "armed struggle," which in practice has come to mean terrorism.'

Wikipedia

A biographical note from a press release launching Becker's 'Atheist conservative' website in July 2007:

Jillian Becker serves on the Council of the Freedom Association, a British conservative think-tank and campaign group most concerned at present with bringing Britain out of the European Union. During the Thatcher years she served on a multi-party committee advising the British Parliament on measures to combat international terrorism, and was consulted by the embassies of several countries plagued by indigenous terrorist organizations. In 1985 she co-founded the Institute for the Study of Terrorism (IST) with former British Defence Minister Lord Chalfont, where she was Executive Director from 1985-1990.

Her views have been published in numerous newspapers and periodicals in both the UK and the US. She contributed a scholarly article on Terrorism to the "Encyclopedia Britannica." Her books include: European Newsweek's 1977 Book of the Year, "Hitler's Children: the Story of the Baader-meinhof Terrorist Gang" (Lippincott 1977), "The PLO: the Rise and Fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization" (St Martin's Press 1984). Jillian Becker has also made a 25 year study of the history of religions, especially Gnosticism.

This sounds similar to Becker's page on Wikipedia which notes:

In the 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, Becker served in a multi-party working group to advise the British Parliament on measures to combat international terrorism. She was also consulted by the embassies of several countries plagued by indigenous terrorist organisations, some of which were supported by foreign nation states. In many of these cases, terrorist activity was an aspect of proxy wars, or what Becker called ‘the hot spots of the Cold War’.

In 1985, with former Defence Minister Lord Chalfont, she founded the Institute for the Study of Terrorism (IST) of which she was Executive Director from 1986-1990.

Her entry on wikipedia is a very positive account of her exploits and was created and mostly edited in april and May 2007 by a user called JillyFfoulkes. It includes the following information on the IST which appears to come from inside information and suggests close contacts with the police:

IST kept in close touch with the Bomb Disposal Unit of Scotland Yard and the Airport Police Authorities. On some occasions IST received information, for instance about the smuggling across international borders of explosive material, before it had been conveyed by official channels , and was able to alert the relevant authorities. Institute personnel undertook to test airport security by ‘smuggling’ imitation ‘bombs’ in luggage through international airports, and found it deficient.

The chief purpose of the Institute was to gather intelligence about terrorist organizations and their membership, and keep the British Parliament and the media informed about them, countering the propaganda and exposing pretexts and lies put out by the violent organisations themselves. IST commissioned expert studies of terrorist groups and distributed them to members of both Houses of Parliament, to newspapers, individual journalists, radio and television news channels, foreign embassies, Customs and Excise, Police Forces, military experts, and university departments. It also held seminars addressed by experts in relevant subjects from many countries in Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle and Far East.

IST cooperated with the Institute for the European Defence and Strategic Studies (IEDSS) in the organisation of an international conference on defence at Windsor in 1986. Also with the Faculty of Laws of London University, the Institute held an international conference in 1988 at Ditchley Park, the elegant venue of many Anglo-American top-level conferences. The three-day event was opened by the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd. One of the most important addresses was given by John Hermon, Chief of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Affiliations

• Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, author of Occasional paper

Publications

• Jillian Becker The most important question, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Volume 4, Issue 1 - 4 1980 , pages 311 - 322 Review of Terrorism and the Liberal State, by Paul Wilkinson. London: Macmillan, 1977, and New York: New York University Press, 1979. and The Weapons of Terror, by Christopher Dobson and Ronald Payne. London: Macmillan, 1979.
• Hitler’s Children: The Story of the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Gang
• The PLO: The Rise and Fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization Weidenfeld & Nicolson and published in 1984.
• Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies Occasional paper No 13: 'The Soviet connection': 'State sponsorship of terrorism' by Jillian Becker 1985.
• Becker, Jillian. 1988. Terrorism in West Germany. London: Institute for the Study of Terrorism.
• Jillian Becker The Islamisation of Britain Jillian Becker on the threat to freedom posed by the rise of Europe’s Muslim population Freedom TODAY May/June 2006.