LONDON – Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced plans yesterday to add new passenger screening at railway stations and more physical barriers and vehicle exclusion zones around busy public places that might be targets of terrorists.
In a speech to the House of Commons, Brown said a review of strategic transportation and other crowded hubs found “a need to step up physical protection against possible vehicle attacks.” The review has led to proposals to redesign buildings to make them “blast resistant.”
Brown said sports venues, hotels, hospitals, movie theaters and many other places will be given detailed advice “on how they can improve their resilience against attack.” He said 250 of the busiest railway stations and more than 100 other “sensitive installations” would initially be prioritized for increased security.
The announcement comes after attempted car bombings this summer in London and Glasgow. Earlier this month top intelligence officials said that at least 4,000 people are suspected of being involved in terrorism-related activity in Britain and that “al-Qaeda has a clear determination to mount terrorist attacks against the United Kingdom.”
Brown said the country is spending more than $5 billion annually on security, triple the amount in 2001.
Brown said he was revoking one security measure that had drawn complaints – the restriction that passengers can take only one carry-on bag on flights taking off in Britain. The policy, imposed after police uncovered an alleged plot in 2006 to blow up transatlantic jets, meant than even a woman's small handbag counted as her one item permitted on a plane. It is to be lifted in January.
Brown said $800 million would be spent over the next three years to “counter radicalization and promote understanding overseas.”
He said initiatives to showcase mainstream Islamic scholarship and “counter extremists' propaganda” will be promoted inside and outside Britain, “including for the first time in Pakistan.”
Brown also said a specialized unit will be working inside prisons to try to stop extremist networks among inmates from plotting attacks.
In addition, a new border agency is to have expanded powers to detain people suspected of terrorist activity, visa requirements would be made more stringent, and foreigners would be required to carry biometric ID cards, he said.
