Dissident threat at all time high, despite MI5 “huge effort.”
“The police assessment is, in fact, that the dissident threat is at an all-time high.” This is the theme of a major report by David McKittrick in today’s Independent. It follows up evidence given this week by the Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde to the Commons NI select committee.
McKittrick quotes:
MI5 and the Special Branches in both parts of Ireland pour huge effort and huge resources into combating the dissident republicans, with some success. Efforts to smuggle in weaponry through Lithuania and the Balkans have been thwarted.
This intertwining of high politics and low terrorism is something that concerns the authorities, who want to get the political show on the road. They already detect a new attitude towards the police, a senior officer reporting: “There is a huge wind of change out there. I have seen that in a number of investigations – there is a completely different response to police on the ground.”
Really Brian?
Do you agree or disagree? You didn’t say. If the Brits are saying that now then maybe my Lenadoon reference earlier in the week wasn’t so outrightly outlandish, incredible and dismissable. I mean if you’re blogging on the threat now that McKittrick has warned you you must think it’s serious or is it also just a minor classic?