UK terrorist threat level raised to 'severe'

[demoleft]

Source: bbc

The UK terror threat level is being raised from "substantial" to "severe", Home Secretary Alan Johnson has said.

The new alert level means a terrorist attack is considered "highly likely". It had stood at substantial since July.

It is in response to the perceived increased threat from international terrorism following the failed Detroit airliner bombing on Christmas Day.
...
Mr Johnson said the new level meant people needed to be "more aware".

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8476238.stm

---

"Mr Johnson stressed there was no intelligence to suggest a terrorist attack was imminent."

either he's hiding the whole information he has received, or i don't know.
i do not understand it.

[ikri]

1. It probably means that

There's an election due soon.

[demoleft]

2. and "Gordon Brown to face Iraq inquiry before election" maybe?

;)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8473790.stm

[barb162]

3. He can't very well blab what he knows.

"He said the government would not reveal specific intelligence details.

"We never say what the intelligence is and it would be pretty daft of us to do that," he said, adding: "It shouldn't be thought to be linked to Detroit or anywhere else for that matter."

[mallard]

4. World Digest: Britain raises its terror threat level to 'severe'

Source: Washington Post

"Britain raised its international terrorism threat level Friday from "substantial" to "severe," its second-highest level, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said.

"'This means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but I should stress that there is no intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent,' Johnson said in a statement. He added that Britain's Joint Terrorism Analysis Center "makes its judgments based on a broad range of factors, including the intent and capabilities of international terrorist groups in the UK and overseas.

"A Home Office advisory said the threat level meant people should remain on alert for danger, including looking for suspicious bags on public transport, but added that the risk of being caught up in an attack was very low."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012204503.html

---

The warning system is meant to ... guarantee people weren't caught off guard or left blaming the various agencies involved for failure to warn the public in the event of an actual attack ... after the fact.

Personally, I don't see any other benefit to doing it this way. They might as well warn specific terror planners to back off because ... they're 'onto them'.

I don't quite get it. They won't specify the nature of the related info, as if that would ... really make some terror planners ... harder to catch ... than if they just made it a 'non-specific' nationwide public alert.

Or maybe its just a kind of psy-ops program thing which really works like a charm, and all the fear and confusion created is minor compared with the way it ... actually plays out.

Bureaucrats always know how to cover the bases.

Don't say we didn't warn you.

[panzerfaust]

5. The idea is simply to spread terror and confusion

after all, right now the UK is (finally and sort-of) conducting a (semi-open) inquiry into why Blair took them to war ...

[chrisa]

6. The boy who cried wolf.

This alert system, from being used for political purposes, no longer means anything to the people. Might as well not have it.

[stellad]

7. Yep. The underwear bomber is being replaced by a more powerful weapon: The tampon bomber!

[cutlassmama]

9. Oh holy LOL!

[Haole Girl]

8. Weird

Either there is intelligence or not. They seem to want it both ways.