Tom Griffin (London, OK): Over on our sister blog terrorism.opendemocracy, Daniel Moeckli looks at a recent MI5 report which challenges many of the assumptions on which the political debate about terrorism in Britain is based:
The report, which apparently is based on several hundred case studies, reveals that British-based terrorists fit "no single demographic profile". Most of them are male, but women also play an important role. The majority are British nationals, not illegal immigrants. There is a high proportion of converts. Importantly, MI5 concludes that "assumptions cannot be made about suspects based on skin colour, ethnic heritage or nationality."
Yet exactly such assumptions have informed British anti-terrorism policing in recent years. Government officials and high-level police officers have made it clear that law enforcement efforts should focus on certain ethnic groups.
Some will be suspicious about the timing of the leak (if leak it was), which came at the same time that MI5's role in the Binyam Mohamed case was coming under judicial scrutiny. Nevertheless, the findings ring true and perhaps explain why some hawkish commentators have long been worried about 'PC spooks' in the intelligence services.
