Terrorism & National Se A


key component of effective counter terrorism strategy and tactics is good intelligence.


Many security professionals receive regular updates from around the world on situations and events that may impact their organisations due to their geographical location, political or economic links or the business they undertake.


This article is an example of the kind of intelligence that is available: it is correct at time of publication but, of course, this type of information changes daily.


#1 Southern Border – United States


The government shutdown in the US stretched near to a month; the security and immigration controls that President Trump says he's fighting to improve came close to fracturing as a result of the impasse. An estimated 800,000 federal employees, many of them from the border and national security agencies, worked without pay. The impasse over the president’s demand for $5.7 billion for a controversial wall at the southern border and the Democrats’ refusal to fund it show no sign of finding a compromise. Over 5,200 US troops were originally sent to the border and if the president decides to call a national emergency, this number could significantly increase.


#2 Washington DC – United States


United States President Donald Trump will hold a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un around the end of February but sanctions on Pyongyang will remain in place. The announcement came after a meeting in the Oval Office between Mr. Trump and Kim Yong-chol, the former North Korean intelligence chief, who has acted as the top nuclear negotiator for Mr Kim. President Trump, who had made a celebratory attendance after a meeting with the intelligence chief last year to announce his first meeting with Mr. Kim, did not attend the meeting this time around. Reports have been mixed over the current nuclear activity in North Korea since the first summit; what is clear is that there has still been little tangible evidence of a move or willingness to disarm.


#3 Ceará – Brazil Troops from Brazil's National Police Force have been deployed in the northeastern state of Ceará to attempt to end the wave of violent attacks by criminal gangs against banks, retail outlets and other Government establishments. Around 300 members of the force arrived in the state capital, Fortaleza, and more than tenother cities across Ceará in


early January in a bid to halt the rampage which has spiked recently, national Public Security Secretary Guilherme Teophilo said. New Brazilian President Bolsonaro, a former military officer, has made domestic security, local corruption and the eradication of gangs a priority.


#4 Bogotá – Colombia


A car bomb exploded at a police academy in Colombia’s capital, Bogota on 17th January, killing at least ten people and wounding over 50 in an attack that created fears of a return to the country’s recent violent past. Authorities said the car broke through checkpoints into the grounds of the General Santander School where it exploded. It was the deadliest attack in Bogota since the government agreed a peace deal with the Marxist FARC rebel group in 2016; the group has been active since 1964. President Duque described the explosion as a “crazy terrorist act” against unarmed cadets and said he had ordered police and the military to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.


#5 LondonDerry – Northern Ireland


Four men in their twenties have been arrested in connection with the explosion on the evening of Saturday 19th January outside the city’s courthouse. Leading the inquiry, Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton told the media, “Fortunately, it didn’t kill anybody but clearly it was a very significant attempt to kill people here in this community.” The New IRA, one of the groups opposing the Good Friday Agreement that fundamentally ended over 25 years of violence in the province, and have in recent years been described as the biggest threat to peace in the Province. The blast on the 19th came at a time when police in both Northern Ireland and European Union-member Ireland have been concerned that the threat of a reappearance of a hard border between the two after Brexit could see an opportunity for sectarian groups. Following this attack, the security services also carried out a controlled explosion on a abandoned van that had been left outside a school and reported there had been an attempt to hijack a bus.


2 © CI TY S ECURI TY MAGAZ INE – S PRING 2019 www. c i t y s e c u r i t ymaga z in e . com #1


#6 Berlin – Germany


February saw the completion of the world’s largest intelligence centre in Berlin as the new €1billion home of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) finally opened, twelve years from its initial conception. The project represents a new era of emphasis in Germany of state security, with 4,000 staff now in residence.


#4 #7 Istanbul – Turkey


Ans Boersma 31, a Dutch journalist with Het Financieele Dagblad, a Dutch main business daily, was detained on 16th January after trying to renew her residency. A statement by the communications director of the Turkish presidency said, “The Turkish authorities have recently received intelligence from the Dutch police that Ms Boersma had links to a designated terrorist organisation and a request for information about her movements in and out of Turkey.” Since the 2016 attempted coup, President Erdogan has jailed thousands of journalists, teachers, academics, legal and human rights activists. Human rights defenders have raised concerns over the ongoing suppression on freedom of speech in Turkey under Erdogan.


#8 Nairobi – Kenya


At least 21 people are now known to have been killed when members of the Islamist group al-Shabaab stormed a luxury hotel complex in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. A 19- hour siege of the DusitD2 hotel and business complex on Tuesday ended with five attackers killed. The actions of an off-duty British SAS soldier who played a key part in the rescue of civilians have been well reported. The attack also shows the capability and continued offensive nature of the Islamist group, which has been operational in East Africa since 2006.


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