LONDON TERROR THREAT – AT 8:14 A.M. ET:  Will London become the major target for terrorists in the next two years?  Remember that there are two spectacular events planned in that city – the April wedding of Prince William, and the 2012 Olympics.  Thus far, the wedding announcement having just been made, British security has been focused on the Olympics.  From London's Telegraph:

Hundreds of street parties, local festivals and big screen events across the country timed to coincide with the London 2012 Olympic Games could be vulnerable to terrorist attack, a government security assessment has found.

The results of the review, released by the government, highlight the risks posed by “parallel events” run alongside the games but not part of them.

With just 20 months before the games, security officials are concerned by what they call “displacement” in which terrorists change their plans to attack well-protected Olympic venues and aim instead at softer targets.

A campaign is to be launched to get every event registered with local authorities by the end of March so that police can make an assessment of the risk, the Daily Telegraph has learned.

But...

Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison, in charge of the policing operation at Scotland Yard, said there was likely to be a shortage of trained search officers, explosives dogs and handlers, firearms officers, close protection officers and mounted officers.

Advertising that fact may not be the wisest course, in my view. 

If there are willing terrorists in Britain, among the country's partly radical Muslim population, or if they can be smuggled in through holes in the travel and immigration security net, there may be little police can do to prevent terror attempts...as long as the terrorists are willing to give up their lives.  The suicide bomber has his own guidance system – himself – and is not seeking any protection.  Beyond that, we have to hope for technical incompetence, like the kind shown recently in New York when a huge bomb planted in Times Square failed to go off.

Britain is going through drastic reductions in spending, and it's been made clear that security for the Olympics is not exempt from those cuts...another message one might wish would be kept private. 

The purpose of terror is to terrorize and to convince a population that its government must change policies.  A royal wedding and the Olympics are ideal targets.

November 26, 2010