Ex-spy chief claims that Britain faces another 30 years of terror
BRITAIN is under threat of a dirty bomb attack as the country faces another 30 years of terrorism, a former MI5 chief warned yesterday.
Jonathan Evans said he is “rather surprised” terrorists have not tried to detonate a radioactive device yet.
Lord Evans told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “It seems such a clear opportunity. That we haven’t seen it is, of course, very, very good news.”
Speaking of such devices containing a mixture of radioactive material and explosives, he said: “There have been a number of measures taken to try to limit our vulnerability but there is still a vulnerability and it could happen.
“We have seen the use of chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria and there is the risk that those could also be used in the West and we should be alert to that.”
Asked about the enduring threat of Islamist terrorism, Lord Evans said: “This is a generational problem. We are going to be facing 20 or 30 years of terrorist threats and need absolutely, critically to persevere.”
Lord Evans, who retired from the Security Service in 2013, said the London terror attacks on July 7, 2005, and the Westminster Bridge outrage in March this year had an “energising effect” on extremists in Britain.
He said: “We did see a huge upsurge in threat intelligence after July 7 and I suspect that there’s the same sort of feeling in the period after the Westminster Bridge attack – that a lot of people who thought, ‘I’d like to do this,’ suddenly decided, ‘Yep, if they can do it, then I can do it’.”
Since the Westminster Bridge, terrorists have struck in Manchester and at London Bridge.
There was also an alleged terror attack at the Finsbury Park mosque, in north London.
Lord Evans added that Britain is not “losing the race” against terrorism despite the attacks.
He said: “It is a race and we have to keep moving forward rapidly unless we are going to slip back.”