COMMENT: Troops On The Streets – But MPs Give In To Terrorists

By Christopher Lee, BFBS Defence Analyst.

Soldiers on the streets. Terrorists on the streets. Politicians off the streets. That was the UK this week.

First the soldiers.

Troops were not deployed as a government reaction to the atrocity in Manchester - as the government made out.

The deployment is a response to the raised security level, not the actual level of the atrocity.

The decision to deploy when security goes 'Critical' begun being practised and exercised continuously years ago.

Training included "boots on the ground" or lower-key CPEX – Command Post Exercises (participants sitting in operational rooms only).

This time, for real, troops were deployed because the intelligence agencies told the government that the security level should be raised to Critical.

When security goes Critical, troops are deployed as an aid to civil power in support of the police.

Security goes to Critical when an attack appears imminent.

For some time the Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre, within MI5's building, has provided likely terrorist targets including hospitals, exhibitions, crowds, religious services, theatres, concerts, and cinemas.

The "kitchen policing" includes major sites such as Number 10 Downing Street and government buildings, plus military ceremonials.

The troops on the streets, meanwhile, are under operational Army command.

The police commander will say what he wants the Army to do and the Army commander will make sure troops are equipped before informing authorities how the job will be done.

The Army says the question is what numbers will be on standby, what types are involved and what back-up and length of time are available.

Terrorists on the streets?

The Manchester incident suggested skills, not sophistication, in making the suicide explosive.

It suggests too that the terrorist must have been inspired or guided by a third party.

He would have to have been continually encouraged.

He would either need help making his explosive belt or would have had it made by an armourer. 

He would also need to choose the site. The recce would show that any mass audience location is less protected at the end of the show than at the start.

As the encore plays, no one gets checked out at the entrance foyer. 

The belief that this 22-year-old terrorist had a backup team means that another attack could be expected or they are in wait.

If they are on the run, then local information about apartments and houses suddenly being vacated becomes key.

Cars, numbers, etc. are put on national alert. Names and banks details are checked out. National police alert systems are activated.

Finally the question for the politicians.

The two weak points: they should be piling money into the police and MI5 - especially the police. Instead, they have cut.

Secondly, they have, supposedly as a sympathy gesture, stopped election campaigning for 24 hours.

While everyone else is getting on with the job, the politicians have allowed the terrorists victory for a couple of days.

It is not for long, but the terrorists have got the politicians off the streets. They have a success.

Hear more from our Defence Analyst Christopher Lee on today's Sitrep, the only radio programme devoted to discussing matters of defence and security, at 18.30 (GMT) on Forces Radio (BFBS). Joining him today will be Dr Karin von Hippel, Director-General of RUSI, Lord Dannatt, former Chief of the General Staff, Mary FitzGerald, writer and researcher on Libya, and Kayam Iqbal, a former British soldier and a Muslim from Manchester who works with the MoD tackling extremism. To listen head here. To download, click here.