Post by steevo on Nov 19, 2006 4:29:49 GMT
Last week Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the head of MI5, gave warning that it was just a matter of time before Britain was attacked with a chemical, biological or radiological weapon.
She said that up to 1,600 terrorists in the UK were involved in 30 "priority one" plots. Whitehall sources have admitted that it was impossible for MI5, given its current level of resources — it has 2,800 staff — to disrupt every terrorist plot being hatched against Britain.
The source said: "MI5 would have to be the size of the Stasi (the 100,000-strong East German secret state police during the Cold War) to have a chance of stopping every possible attack and, even then, it would be unlikely that it would succeed."
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/19/wafg119.xml
She said that up to 1,600 terrorists in the UK were involved in 30 "priority one" plots. Whitehall sources have admitted that it was impossible for MI5, given its current level of resources — it has 2,800 staff — to disrupt every terrorist plot being hatched against Britain.
The source said: "MI5 would have to be the size of the Stasi (the 100,000-strong East German secret state police during the Cold War) to have a chance of stopping every possible attack and, even then, it would be unlikely that it would succeed."
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/19/wafg119.xml