about when is the point when responsibility shifts and, clearly, MI5 holds no executive powers or responsibilities. That is what Neil's teams do, but they are present through the whole of the intelligence phase.[1]
Counter-Terrorism Operations Centre
224. A national Counter-Terrorism Operations Centre (CTOC) in Empress State Building in West London is being created to bring together the London-based counter-terrorism elements of the Intelligence Community, Metropolitan Police Service and other partners. The business case for the CTOC was approved in March 2020—however, as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the decision was taken to delay entering into the full licence agreement in order to refresh the design of the building. A formal addendum to the business case was presented to HM Treasury in September 2020 in parallel with the UKIC and CTP Spending Review Bids.[2] The Home Secretary opened the first completed section of the CTOC on 28 June 2021.[3]
225. MI5 anticipates the CTOC will enable "even closer" MI5-CTP joint working and knowledge transfer, as well as delivering efficiencies enabling investigative teams to cope with increased overall volumes across the combined Islamist and ERWT threats. In addition to MI5 and CTP, the intelligence Agencies, and the criminal justice system, as well as other government agencies focused on tackling the threat from terrorism, will also have a presence in the building. The Head of CTP observed that a large component of Special Operations (SO15) Command are already based in the Empress Building and that the process of integrating the other Agencies and organisations to the CTOC is "timelined between now and 2025".[4]
Resource implications
226. As of August 2020, there were *** investigative groups working on UK-based counter-terrorism, *** is fully devoted to ERWT and LASIT. This ratio can also be seen from the casework: in July 2020 ERWT and LASIT casework accounted for around under a fifth of all G Branch[5] investigations (which had previously been managing, almost totally, exclusively Islamist terrorism investigations).[6]
227. MI5 advised that they have absorbed the increased investigative effort on ERWT from within their existing counter-terrorist investigative cadre, with ERWT and LASIT investigations being prioritised using the same system as used for Islamist terrorism, allowing collection and analysis resources to be moved dynamically between cases, allowing them to allocate the resource necessary to counter the highest-priority threats, regardless of the ideology of the threat.[7]
228. When we questioned the Home Secretary regarding prioritisation of ERWT, she advised that the balance of effort was kept under constant review and discussed at her weekly
- ↑ Oral evidence - MI5, 29 April 2021.
- ↑ Written evidence - MI5, 30 September 2020.
- ↑ 'First elements of new Counter Terrorism Operations Centre in London unveiled '- Metropolitan Police (www.metpolice.uk), 28 June 2021.
- ↑ Oral evidence - CTP, 29 April 2021.
- ↑ G Branch is the division within MI5 which covers international counter-terrorism.
- ↑ Written evidence - MI5, 30 September 2020.
- ↑ MI5 have not provided separate figures for resourcing on ERWT and LASIT.
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