Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Britain plans terror alerts via e-mail

Recipients must register at MI5's Web site.

By Washington Post
Published January 10, 2007

LONDON - The British government is offering an e-mail bulletin service to notify people of changes to the nation's terror threat level, a development that illustrates increasing fears of attacks in Britain and the power of digital communications.

The domestic security agency, MI5, announced the new service Tuesday and said it will also provide e-mail bulletins on "major developments in national security affairs." It plans to add a service providing the same information in text messages to cell phones, officials said.

People would have to register on the MI5 Web site to get the alerts.

"It is important that we are as open as possible with the general public about security matters," said Phyllis Starkey, a member of Parliament from Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party.

Britain began disclosing the terror threat level to the public in August, following government inquiries into the official handling of the July 2005 attacks on London's public transit system.

After those attacks, in which 52 passengers and four bombers were killed and about 700 people injured, investigators concluded that the government did a poor job of communicating with the public about potential security threats.

In August, the government began posting the threat level on the MI5 Web site and a new government Web site, www.intelligence.gov.uk, was set up to disseminate information about security matters.

Starkey said the widespread use of computers and cell phones allows the government to communicate information about potential threats far faster now. She recalled the days when the government placed posters in public places asking people to be vigilant for activity by the Irish Republican Army.

"This is a rather more effective technology," she said. "And if individuals are aware of an imminent threat, they are more likely to notice odd behavior. They are added eyes and ears for the security services."

[Last modified January 10, 2007, 01:19:22]