Summary
This Command Paper, 'The United Kingdom's Strategy for Countering International Terrorism' (Cm. 7547), sets out the United Kingdom's strategy - known as CONTEST - for countering the threat from international terrorism.
The aim of CONTEST is to reduce the risk to the United Kingdom and its interests overseas from international terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence.
This is a revised and more detailed version of the strategy contained in the March 2008 Command Paper 'The National Security Strategy of the United Kingdom: Security in an Interdependent World' (Cm. 7291).
The first part sets the context with a brief history of the changing threat to the United Kingdom and its interests overseas from international terrorism. It examines the present threat, the factors which are shaping it, and the assumptions about how it may develop.
The second part sets out the principles that will govern the strategy, including:
- A commitment to human rights and the rule of law;
- Recognition of the need to address the causes as well as the symptoms of terrorism; and
- The need to co-operate with other countries.
The four main streams of the CONTEST strategy are:
- (1) Pursue - to stop terrorist attacks
- (2) Prevent - to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism
- (3) Protect - to strengthen our protection against terrorist attack
- (4) Prepare - where an attack cannot be stopped, to mitigate its impact.
The third part of the document outlines who will deliver the strategy and how its impact will be measured.
The document concludes with a section explaining the importance of communications as a part of the counter-terrorism strategy.
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