Counter-Terrorism Portal

Welcome to the Counter-Terrorism Portal on Spinprofiles

Welcome to the Counter-Terrorism Portal on Spinprofiles. It is the aim of this portal to provide analysts, practitioners, students and all other interested parties up-to-date and rigorous information on British counter-terrorism and related issues. The Counter-Terrorism Portal Editors are Rizwaan Sabir and David Miller. Spinprofiles has a policy of strict referencing and is overseen by an Managing editor and a Sysop and several Associate Portal editors. This article is part of the Counter-Terrorism Portal project of Spinwatch. UK Counter-Terrorism: An Overview The UK has a long history of dealing with domestic terrorism, most notably due to its experience of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The threat to British national security during the Troubles was posed by Republican paramilitary organisations, most notably by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and its affiliates. In the 1970s, when the Troubles spilled onto the British mainland, the UK enacted a series of counterterrorism measures, such as Internment, the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act (1973-96) and the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (1974-2000). After various attempts at bringing peace had failed, the the Good Friday Agreement was finally signed in April 1998 and ended the Troubles. The current threat from Irish paramilitary organisations is limited to a small number of Republican splinter groups, such as the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA). When the Prevention of Terrorism Act expired in 2000, according to Clive Walker – “its replacement became an acute issue”. As a consequence, it was replaced by a permanent act – The Terrorism Act 2000, which became the “bedrock” of the anti-terror legislation for the UK. In direct response to the events of 9/11, a series of other legislations were also enacted by the UK government, such as the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 , the Terrorism Act 2006 and the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008. The objective behind the enactments of these legislations was to ensure that the UK was protected from events, such as 9/11 unfolding on its territory. In 2003, the government initiated a four pronged counter-terrorism strategy known as Contest (2003-09). It’s ultimate objective was to "reduce the risk from international terrorism, so that people could go about their daily lives freely and with confidence." After the attacks of 7 July, 2005 however, the government felt that it had to do more to prevent people from turning towards terrorism and therefore, in 2009, replaced Contest with Contest 2, which was similar to Contest, but was essentially more focused on Preventing Violent Extremism. At present, there are numerous community led projects and organisational initiatives focusing on Prevent. UK counter-Terrorism organisations Security Service (MI5) | Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6) | GCHQ | Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre | Counter-Terrorism Legislation Terrorism Act 2000 | Anti-Terrorism Crime & Security Act 2001 | The Criminal Justice Act 2003 | The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 | The Terrorism Act 2006 | The Counter-Terrorism Act 2008| Recommended Reading Steve Hewitt (2007) The British War on Terror: Terrorism and Counterterrorism on the Home Front since 9-11 [Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd] Liz Fekete (2009) A Suitable Enemy: Racism, Migration and Islamaphobia in Europe [Pluto Press] Categories All pages associated with the Counter-Terrorism Portal are listed here. There are also a number of distinct sub-categories listed below. You can click on any of these links to display an A-Z list of all pages in that category. Counter-Terrorism: Government organisations Counter-Terrorism: Parliamentary organisations Counter-Terrorism: Voluntary organisations Counter-Terrorism: Civil servants Counter-Terrorism: Politicans sector people Counter-Terrorism: Voluntary sector people organisations Counter-Terrorism: Policing organisations organisations Counter-Terrorism: Intelligence Organisations Intelligence personnel Counter-Terrorism: Intelligence personnel Counter-Terrorism: Police personnel Counter-Terrorism: Media organisations Counter-Terrorism: Journalists Terrorism government advisory bodies Terrorism Journal Recent Articles on SpinWatch References and Resources

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