Police officers patrol near London Bridge in London on Nov 30, 2019, following a terror incident on London Bridge the previous night. (NIKLAS HALLE'N / AFP)
The world is likely to suffer a successful chemical, biological or so-called dirty bomb attack by terrorists over the next 10 years, the United Kingdom has warned, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out plans to overhaul British defense and foreign policy.
Under a blueprint for the next decade, the UK will cut tanks and some fighter jets, while bolstering its arsenal of nuclear missiles potentially by more than 40 percent.
The plans are contained in a 100-page report which Johnson’s officials are billing as the most wide ranging re-evaluation of the UK’s security and place in the world since the end of the Cold War. In it, the government warns the country is under threat from rogue states, terrorists and even big tech companies, arguing that British military capabilities and international strategies must be reshaped in response.
Under a blueprint for the next decade, the UK will cut tanks and some fighter jets, while bolstering its arsenal of nuclear missiles potentially by more than 40 percent
“The main sources of terrorist threat are from Islamist and Northern Ireland-related terrorism and far-right, far-left, anarchist and single-issue terrorism,” the report reads. “It is likely that a terrorist group will launch a successful CBRN attack by 2030.” CBRN is an abbreviation for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear.
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Even so, the former head of Britain’s overseas intelligence agency MI6, Alex Younger, said the threat of a so-called dirty bomb isn’t imminent. “I’m not aware of any information that has it as an imminent issue but clearly it has got to stay factored in,” he told BBC radio Tuesday.
The decision to bolster the UK’s nuclear capability calls time on the gradual disarmament that marked the end of the Cold War amid an assessment other countries are “increasing and diversifying their nuclear arsenals” involving “novel nuclear technologies,” according to the report.
The policy framework spans overseas aid, cyber warfare, the future of the armed forces, and addressing climate change. For Johnson, it’s a chance to tell the world how he sees post-Brexit Britain’s role in the global order developing over the next decade.
Johnson outlines a new activist approach to international relations on issues such as climate change and democracy as he makes clear he regards the Indo-Pacific as increasingly the geopolitical center of the world.
Johnson intends to visit India at the end of April on his first trip overseas since Britain left the European Union trade and market regime as part of a plan to deepen defense, diplomatic and trade relations with India, Japan, South Korea and Australia.
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“We must be willing to change our approach and adapt to the new world emerging around us,” Johnson said in the foreword to the so-called integrated review. “Open and democratic societies like the UK must demonstrate they are match-fit for a more competitive world.
Describing Saudi Arabia as a “close ally” is also likely to dismay those who have called for the end to unrestricted arms sales after the US said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
The report also contains a commitment to restore foreign aid spending to 0.7 percent of national income “when the fiscal situation allows” after Johnson’s own Conservative Party colleagues threatened to take him to court to block the reduction in foreign aid spending.
According to the review, British troops will serve overseas “more often and for longer” in the “new frontiers” of space and cyber-warfare and assist other nations in countering “non-state challenges,” including those from terrorists.
