Counter-intelligence and Counter-terrorism Organizations - United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The UK Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, is the top decision-making body of the UK government. The Cabinet Office supports the UK ministerial committee system by coordinating policy and strategy across government departments, and as such, has a role in bringing together department ministers, officials, and others involved in homeland security affairs and counterterrorism. The Cabinet Secretariat, which sits in the Cabinet Office, largely manages the day-to-day business of the Cabinet committees and is divided into six individual secretariats that support the different Cabinet committees.

A Security and Intelligence Coordinator within the Cabinet Office is directly responsible to the Prime Minister and is tasked with coordinating and developing, across all government departments, work on counterterrorism and crisis management. The Security and Intelligence Coordinator plays a key role in setting priorities and budgets for the intelligence services.

In April 2004, the British government unveiled a new comprehensive, cross-departmental Counterterrorism Strategy (known as CONTEST) centered on the “4Ps” of prevent, pursue, protect, and prepare. Prevention work seeks to address the underlying causes of terrorism both at home and abroad; pursuit efforts aim to disrupt terrorist organizations and their ability to operate; protection measures focus on protecting the public, critical national infrastructure, and key sites at particular risk; preparedness work aims to enable the UK to respond and recover from the consequences of a terrorist attack. The “4Ps” seek to give greater coherence to UK counterterrorism measures and take advantage of existing expertise and resources throughout the UK government.