Radicalization Researcher: UK Should Brace Itself for Terrorism

As the UK's MI5 chief warned of a looming terrorist threat of unprecedented scale in the UK, Dennis Wecker, a researcher specializing in radicalization, counter-terrorism and security policy, has told Sputnik that more violent attacks may occur in Britain despite the brilliant job that security services are doing.

Sputnik: With regards to Andrew Parker’s comments; is the UK under threat from a wave of potential terror attacks? Is it likely the UK will face another attack similar to the scenes in Manchester and London, in the near the future?

Dennis Wecker: Just looking at the hard data and figures, the numbers of attacks and plots have risen every year consecutively over the last three or four years. So, statistically speaking, there is an upward trend towards more violent attacks and planning. Numbers aside, what are the reasons for this? It’s not just home grown terrorism that poses a threat it’s also returning transnational fighters, so called foreign terrorist fighters. Daesh is losing more and more ground in Syria, and the so called caliphate is ripped apart, that’s why we might also see increased numbers of people trying to make their way back home which will challenge border controls and also cross border intelligence sharing between European states.

MI5… the other intelligence units and of course police forces on the ground have done a brilliant job recently and become better, more efficient and also more aware of potential threats every day. Just over the last four years they have successfully foiled around 20 plots in the UK and we also see increasing numbers of arrests not just domestically but also at the borders.

Sputnik: With studies and data showing the radicalization and organization of terrorism has been boosted by online platforms… Are tech giants such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter really doing enough to actually prevent individuals from using these platforms to co-ordinate and aid attacks?

Dennis Wecker: First of all, you are right about social media, and different platforms on the internet being used as forums to spread propaganda, manuals, etc.  What we rarely see though is an actual exchange of information about a real attack. This is because most attackers actually make use of risk management! What does that mean? They are very careful about what they communicate with whom – preferably in person. Because they also know that intelligence services are watching them very closely.

Are social media companies doing enough? If you had asked me a few years ago, my answer would have been a strong no. I'm very pleased to see though, that governments and companies like Facebook are working more closely together now. I mean, Twitter and Facebook are very fast these days with deleting radicalized content: usually within a few minutes or one or two hours! The most important thing is that they have recognized the problem and will fight it. The biggest problem still is the Darknet and apps like Telegram, which are a little harder to control. But Telegram certainly could do more in this regard.