Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Office for Security and Counter Terrorism

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The Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT) is an executive directorate of the UK government Home Office, created in 2007, responsible for leading the work on counter-terrorism in the UK, working closely with the police and security services. The office reports to the Home Secretary (currently Amber Rudd) and Minister of State for Security and Counter-Terrorism (currently Ben Wallace). Its current Director General is Tom Hurd, who is described as the senior government official responsible for counter terrorist and organised crime strategy.

Contents

Responsibilities

According to its website, the current responsibilities of the OSCT are:

  • Exercising the UK's response to a terrorist incident
  • Developing legislation on terrorism here and overseas
  • Providing security measures and protection packages for public figures
  • Ensuring that the UK’s critical national infrastructure is protected from attack (including electronic attack)
  • Ensuring the UK is prepared to deal with a chemical, biological, or nuclear release
  • Liaising with government and emergency services during terrorist incidents or counter-terrorism operations

    • In May 2014, the Director General of OSCT made a witness statement on behalf of the government and the three main intelligence agencies for the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, in a legal case brought by advocacy groups including Privacy International, Liberty and Amnesty International, explaining the legal basis for the interception of electronic communications under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. This was characterised in the media as an explanation of how the security services can legally monitor "Facebook, Google and Twitter" usage by UK citizens.

    Programmes

    The Preventing Violent Extremism strategy (Prevent), is a £140 million programme run by OSCT.

    In 2013, OSCT stated that 500 people had gone through its Channel deradicalisation programme, including some considering participating in the Syrian civil war, steering some away from violent extremism.

    Criticism

    It was criticised in 2009 by Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, as a domestic spying programme collecting intelligence about the beliefs of British Muslims not involved in criminal activity. The Communities and Local Government Committee was also critical of the Prevent programme in 2010, stating that it stigmatised and alienated Muslims the government wanted to work with.

    At the National Union of Teachers' 2016 conference in Brighton, the union members voted overwhelmingly against the Prevent strategy and supported its abolition, citing concerns of implementing the strategy and causing "suspicion in the classroom and confusion in the staffroom".

    References

    Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA