UK plans to register foreign intel agents
London:britain’s home secretary Sajid Javid on Monday announced that the Theresa May government is working on bringing a new Espionage Bill that could include registration of intelligence agents of foreign countries based in the UK.
Delivering a major speech on terrorism and the importance of international collaboration, Javid revealed that in the past two years, security services had foiled 19 major terrorist attacks in the UK – 14 of them Islamist and five motivated by extreme rightwing ideologies.
He also announced that officials have been asked to consider designating Syria as a place where it would be an offence for a British citizen to be. Of the British citizens who reportedly travelled abroad to commit offences in recent years, 40 had been prosecuted, he said.
The new bill on espionage is prompted by the Salisbury attack of March 2018, when some individuals were poisoned by nerve agents allegedly at the behest of Russia.
Javid said: “Since the Salisbury attack, the Home Office has been reviewing the laws we have around hostile state activity. I believe that there are some real gaps in our current legislation.”
“The areas this work (preparing the bill) will consider includes whether we follow allies in adopting a form of foreign agent registration and how we update our Official Secrets Acts for the 21st century. I have also asked my officials to consider the case for updating treason laws,” he added.
Focussing on international co-operation in combating terrorism, Javid said: “Since taking this job I’ve travelled to Europe, Asia, the US and beyond to discuss global security issues with my counterparts.”
“As these threats become more global, we rely on an international system of defence, policing, security and intelligence. A safety net that is based upon cooperation, and unity”.
Britain faced four major terror attacks in 2017, including the Manchester Arena bombing in which 22 people were killed.