The Defence of the Realm (199 page)

Home Office Archives.

18
 Home Office Archives.

19
 Home Office Archives.

20
 Interview by Christopher Andrew with Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, 3 April 2007.

21
 See below,
p. 817
.

22
 Ricin had been used to murder the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov almost a quarter of a century previously; see above,
p. 648
.

23
 Clarke, ‘Learning from Experience: Counter-Terrorism in the UK since 9/11'. Security Service Archives.

24
 The initiative for an earlier Al Qaida-linked plan, to attack Heathrow, was believed to have originated outside the UK.

25
 Interview by Christopher Andrew with Jonathan Evans, 3 Feb. 2009.

26
 Security Service Archives.

27
 One of the plotters, Salahuddin Amin, then in Pakistan, handed himself in to the Pakistani authorities, who arrested him on 2 April. He was repatriated and arrested in the UK in February 2005.

28
 Security Service Archives. On 14 April the DG circulated to staff written congratulations from the Prime Minister. Together with other intelligence chiefs, Lander had attended meetings of the Afghan War Cabinet in the winter of 2001/2. Recollections of Sir Stephen Lander.

29
 On 30 April 2007, Omar Khyam, Anthony Garcia and Waheed Mahmood were sentenced to a minimum of twenty years' imprisonment, Jawad Akbar and Salahuddin Amin to a minimum of seventeen and a half years'. Two other defendants were cleared of all charges. In June 2004 Mohammed Junaid Babar had pleaded guilty in the USA to a range of terrorist-related offences, including ‘providing material support to terrorist activity, specifically, the British bomb plot'. He subsequently acted as a witness for the prosecution during the CREVICE trial.

30
 Security Service Archives.

31
 See above,
pp. 229
–
30
.

32
 Intelligence and Security Committee,
Annual Report 2006–2007
(Cm 7299), Jan. 2008.

33
 MI5 website. Security Service Archives.

34
 The threat levels were listed in Intelligence and Security Committee,
Report into the London Terrorist Attacks on 7 July 2005
(Cm 6785), May 2006.

35
 Security Service Archives. JTAC's record as a multi-agency organization was praised in the 2004 Butler report.

36
 Security Service Archives.

37
 Interview with a former Security Service officer.

38
 MI5 website.

39
 Security Service Archives.

40
 Interview with a former Security Service officer.

41
 CPNI website.

42
 The response rate of 60 per cent was 6 per cent down on the 2000 survey but was considered still good enough by BDI to give confidence in the findings. The overall satisfaction rate was up 4 per cent on the last survey in 2000. Ninety-nine per cent of respondents believed the Service's work was important. Ninety-five per cent were ‘proud to work for the Service' and understood how they as individuals contributed towards its aims.

43
 Security Service ‘War on Terry (WOT)' revue in June 2007; the pirates drew some inspiration from a sketch by the broadcaster and scriptwriter Andy Hamilton.

44
 December 2006 report by ‘Investors in People'.

45
 Security Service Archives. The US 9/11 Commission Report identified Barot, under his alias Issa al-Britani, as an associate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

46
 Metropolitan Police website.

47
 Robert Wesley, ‘British Terrorist Dhiren Bharot's Research on Radiological Weapons',
Terrorism Focus
, 14 Nov. 2006.

48
 Clarke, ‘Learning from Experience: Counter-Terrorism in the UK since 9/11'.

49
 Press Association, ‘Barot operation posed complex challenge', 7 Nov. 2006.

50
 CBS News, ‘British Terror Plotter Gets Life in Prison', 7 Nov. 2006.

51
 Security Service Archives.

52
 Such bogus leads were not uncommon. Interview with Jonathan Evans, 3 Feb. 2009.

53
 Interview with a former Security Service officer.

54
 Intelligence and Security Committee,
Report into the London Terrorist Attacks on 7 July 2005
(Cm 6785), May 2006.

55
 Security Service Archives.

56
 Interview with Jonathan Evans, 3 Feb. 2009.

57
 The Security Service had other reports on an unidentified extremist whom it discovered only after 7/7 to be Siddique Khan. Intelligence and Security Committee,
Report into the London Terrorist Attacks on 7 July 2005
(Cm 6785), May 2006.

58
 Interview with Jonathan Evans, 3 Feb. 2009.

59
 Intelligence and Security Committee,
Report into the London Terrorist Attacks on 7 July 2005
(Cm 6785), May 2006. ‘Links between the 7 July bombers and the fertiliser plotters', MI5 website. On 30 April 2007
Panorama
(‘Real Spooks', BBC 1) made the sensational (but, in the author's view, unconvincing) claim that ‘the ISC was either never given all the precise details by the Security Service or was fully informed but chose to omit [information] that would have fuelled demands for an independent or public inquiry.'

60
 A Ghanaian, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, who was carrying a fifth bomb, changed his mind and dumped it in a London park.

61
 Security Service Archives.

62
 The Service had no involvement in the tragic shooting during the man-hunt of the Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes, who was mistaken by police for Osman.

63
 Asiedu was sentenced to thirty-three years' imprisonment.

64
 Interview with Jonathan Evans, 3 Feb. 2009.

65
 Intelligence and Security Committee,
Report into the London Terrorist Attacks on 7 July 2005
(Cm 6785), May 2006,
p. 36
.

66
 Clarke, ‘Learning from Experience: Counter-Terrorism in the UK since 9/11'.

67
 Intelligence and Security Committee,
Annual Report 2006–2007
(Cm 7299), Jan. 2008,
p. 12
.

68
 Intelligence and Security Committee,
Annual Report 2007–2008
(Cm 7542), March 2009,
pp. 12
22

69
 Intelligence and Security Committee,
Annual Report 2008–2009
(Cm 7807),
p. 8

70
 See above,
pp. 251
–
2
,
450
–
51
,
476
.

71
 Baroness Manningham-Buller,
Parl. Deb. (Lords)
, 5 Feb, 2009.

72
 House of Lords judgment in case of
A and Others v Secretary of State for the Home Department, 8 Dec. 2005
.

73
 Security Service Archives.

74
 Security Service Archives.

75
 Security Service Archives.

76
 Security Service Archives.

77
 Intelligence and Security Committee,
Rendition
(Cm 7171), July 2007,
pp. 33
–
4
.

78
 Richard Norton-Taylor, ‘MI5 criticised for role in case of torture, rendition and secrecy',
Guardian
, 22 Aug. 2008. Richard Norton-Taylor, ‘Evidence of torture “buried by ministers” ',
Guardian
, 5 Feb. 2009. Richard Ford and Francis Elliott, ‘US threatens to stop sharing intelligence if “torture” of British detainee is revealed',
The Times
, 5 Feb. 2009.

79
 Lord Neuberger's final judgment, made public on 26 February, though somewhat less sweeping and more clearly focused on the Binyam Mohamed case than his first draft, was still the most devastating judicial judgment on MI5 in its history. Neuberger concluded in his first draft: ‘Not only is there an obvious reason for distrusting any UK Government assurance, based on S[ecurit]y S[ervice] advice and information because of previous “form”, but the Foreign Office and the S[ecurit]y S[ervice] have an interest in the suppression of such information.' In the final judgment this became: ‘Not only is there some reason for distrusting such a statement [‘concerning the mistreatment of Mr Mohamed'], given that it is based on Security Services' advice and information, because of previous, albeit general, assurances in 2005, but also the Security Services have an interest in the suppression of such information.' EWCA Civ 158. Case No: T1/2009/2331. 26 February 2009.

80
 Jonathan Evans, ‘Conspiracy theories aid Britain's enemies',
Daily Telegraph
, 12 Feb. 2010.

81
 Richard Norton-Taylor. ‘Ml5's propaganda own-goal:',
Guardian
, 12 Feb. 2010.

82
 I find it difficult to believe, on the basis of my own experience in talking to induction courses, that recruits would feel inhibited from taking ethical concerns to the counsellor.

83
 Intelligence and Security Committee,
Annual Report 2006–2007
(Cm 7299), Jan. 2008.

84
 Intelligence and Security Committee,
Report into the London Terrorist Attacks on 7 July 2005
(Cm 6785), May 2006,
p. 38

85
 Ibid.,
p. 39
.

86
 Security Service Archives.

87
 Transcript of Ali's suicide video.

88
 Security Service Archives.

89
 Security Service Archives.

90
 Security Service Archives.

91
 Security Service Archives.

92
 Security Service Archives.

93
 A conversation on 9 August about ‘HP' (hydrogen peroxide) between Ali and his chief lieutenant, Tanveer Hussain, recorded by MI5, said of Sarwar: ‘he's got to boil it down'. Security Service Archives.

94
 Press reports of Sarwar's trial.

95
 Security Service Archives.

96
 Security Service Archives.

97
 Security Service Archives.

98
 Interview by Christopher Andrew with Jonathan Evans, 26 Jan. 2010. On the surveillance and arrest of Fryers, see above,
p. 784
.

99
 Security Service Archives.

100
 Press reports of trial evidence.

101
 Andy Hayman. ‘Why I suspect jittery Americans nearly ruined efforts to foil plot',
The Times
, 8 Sept. 2009.

102
 MI5 listening devices picked up the recording of only one of the martyrdom videos. Security Service Archives.

103
 Transcript of Ali's martyrdom video. Before being broadcast, editing of the video by those Ali called Al Qaida's ‘media brothers' would probably have made it more coherent.

104
 Transcript of Tanvir Hussain's martyrdom video.

105
 Press reports of trial evidence.

106
 Interview by Christopher Andrew with Jonathan Evans, 26 Jan. 2010.

107
 Ibid.

108
 Security Service Archives.

109
 ‘Hunt for Rashid Rauf that ended with hellfire',
Sunday Times
, 23 Nov. 2008.

110
 Security Service Archives.

111
 ‘A terror plot, 24 arrests and the day when chaos reigned',
Independent
, 11 Aug. 2006. Interview by Christopher Andrew with Jonathan Evans, 26 Jan. 2010.

112
 ‘A terror plot, 24 arrests and the day when chaos reigned',
Independent
, 11 Aug. 2006. Andy Hayman, ‘Why I suspect jittery Americans nearly ruined efforts to foil plot',
The Times
, 8 Sept. 2009. On 14 August, as a result of the arrests, JTAC lowered the threat level to severe – indicating that a terrorist threat was still highly likely but was no longer thought to be imminent.

113
 ‘ “Airlines terror plot” disrupted',
BBC News
, 10 Aug. 2009.

114
 Interview by Christopher Andrew with Jonathan Evans, 26 Jan. 2010.

115
 Among them Christopher Andrew.

116
 At the end of the first OVERT trial, which concluded in September 2008, the three ringleaders – Ali, Sarwar and Hussein – were found guilty of conspiracy to murder persons known and conspiracy to cause explosions. The jury, however, failed to agree a verdict on charges that they and four other defendants – Ibrahim Svant, Umar Islam, Waheed Zaman and Arafat Khan had conspired to commit murder by detonating bombs aboard transatlantic airliners. All seven pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a public nuisance. The eighth defendant, Mohammed Yasar Gulzar, was acquitted on all charges.

At a retrial which concluded a year later in September 2009 Ali, Sarwar and Hussein were found guilty of conspiracy to murder by causing explosions on aircraft. The jury failed to agree a verdict on the same charge against Umar Islam but found him guilty of conspiracy to murder. The jury found Savant, Zaman and Arafat Khan not guilty of conspiracy to murder by causing explosions on aircraft and failed to reach a verdict on the charge of conspiracy to murder. Donald Stewart-White, who had not featured in the first trial, was acquitted on all charges.