Posts By: Jacob Charles

Committed to security

Anthony Tucker-Jones and former Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey discuss the latest national and international security threats, and ask whether British security policy lost its way   ATJ: The terrorist attack in Ottawa last year highlighted flawed security with the Canadian Parliament. Are you content that Westminster is as secure as it can be? NH:… Read more »

Bird’s eye view

Timothy Compston investigates the growing capabilities offered by UAS technology for strategic and tactical border security, and weighs the security threats they pose if misused   Today, unmanned aerial system – or “drone” – technology has developed to the stage where it can provide a powerful force multiplier for military, government, and law enforcement agencies… Read more »

TSCM in 2015 – Part 1

  Watching the watchers With the counter-espionage market still unregulated by the SIA, Dean La-Vey examines the achievements of the industry’s Technical Surveillance Countermeasures Institute which is driving standards and ethics to new heights   In 2003, the newly launched UK Security Industry Authority (SIA) began the process of regulating and licensing the private security… Read more »

Jihad down under

From Woolwich to Ottawa and now Sydney, Anthony Tucker-Jones reports on the ‘lone wolf’ menace spreading around the world   To the world’s media, the Sydney café siege at the end of 2014 seemed to herald the unwelcome arrival of “lone wolf” terrorism to Australia. In reality, over the past decade Australia has not been… Read more »

Ebola and bio-terrorism

As the Ebola epidemic continues to spread in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, Lina Kolesnikova assesses the risk that extremist groups may seek to harness the virus as a terrorist weapon   The latest news on the spread of the Ebola virus has raised significant worries across the security community. The greater frequency with which… Read more »

After the spring

As the situation in Libya continues to deteriorate, John Chisholm finds that the 2010 “Arab Spring” has left a legacy of instability and insecurity across the region   In the past 18 months, much of the world’s focus has been on Syria, and then the growth out of that conflict of ISIS. It is easy… Read more »

International Threat Watch 2015

Civil unrest in Asia Omar Hamid examines the rising risk of civil unrest across Asia   China Tension in Hong Kong The main issue driving protests in Honk Kong is the nominating procedures for the 2017 Chief Executive elections. Beijing is extremely unlikely to compromise, and so the protests are likely to continue into 2015…. Read more »

International Threat Watch 2015

Regional Instability
 Paul McGrath assesses the potential sources of regional instability in 2015   South Asia ISAF withdrawal from Afghanistan A civil war is very likely after the 2014 ISAF withdrawal. Although the Taliban is unlikely to be able to overthrow the Kabul government, at least over the next two years, the government’s authority outside… Read more »

International Threat Watch 2015

Terrorist Groups Matthew Henman examines the key terrorist groups to watch in 2015
   The Islamic State, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is a Sunni militant Islamist group founded in Iraq in October 2004. Initially known as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), the group subsequently created a series of… Read more »

Combating terror tourism

Following the recent shootings in Canada, Anthony Tucker-Jones asks what can be done to safeguard against radicalised expatriates and aspiring jihadists   Following the recent arrest of four men suspected of plotting attacks at Remembrance Sunday events in the UK and the killing of two soldiers in Canada, efforts to cope with home-grown Islamic radicals… Read more »