to countering the ERWT threat, particularly in the online space. MI5 and CTP advised the Committee that they had recently taken joint chairpersonship of the liaison group.[1]
297. The liaison working group has commissioned a series of formal papers from *** in order to explore *** of the ERWT threat, noting common drivers, such as:
- ***;
- ***;
- ***;
- ***.
The consensus across attendees is that the threat from this area is increasing, and all parties acknowledged that a successful attack anywhere would galvanise other potential actors ***.
298. The liaison working group have also identified common interventions that may benefit from a future joint approach, including:
- increased counter-messaging and counter-violent extremism programmes;
- education initiatives ***'
- ***; and
- ***.
299. However, there are some challenges to this working arrangement. Within liaison countries, investigative thresholds, terminology and even the nature of the problem vary greatly, with as already noted the USA being a particular outlier in terms of what is acceptable under the First Amendment guaranteeing US citizens freedom of speech, and phenomena such as armed militias and sovereign citizens (those who reject the authority of the Federal government, which do not exist in the other liaison countries. Nevertheless, MI5 has noted that "there is a clear commitment to learn from each other's experience, to work towards a common language to describe the problem, and to build, where possible and appropriate, common solutions to common problems".[2] These include exploring with liaison partners the possibility of ***[3] ***, and data sharing initiatives.[4]
Europol
300. CTP and MI5 are engaged with Europol[5] Member States on ERWT, which has increasingly become part of their agenda over the last two years, with a recognition of the need to balance the right to demonstrate alongside the need to investigate threats to national security. However the scope and scale of this response appears to be dependent on the necessary resources being available. The need for an EU-wide Internet Referral Unit (IRU)
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