Liberty's Second Reading Briefing on the Counter-Terrorism & Security Bill in the House of Commons

Secretary and funded by Government. 72 We expect that, like many of the post facto
oversight mechanisms in place, the Privacy & Civil Liberties Board will lack the
independence, expertise and transparency necessary to act as an effective check. In the
surveillance sphere, prior judicial authorisation of interception and requests for
communications data is the only effective and truly independent form of oversight.
Alternative policies to the Counter-Terrorism & Security Bill
60. While there is no simple answer to the complex problem which international terrorism
presents, there are alternatives to this Bill which would be far more effective in terms of
countering the extremist narrative and securing effective surveillance, investigations and
prosecutions.
Learning the lessons of the ISC report
(i) “Low-priority” suspects
61. Much of the ISC’s criticism of the Agencies in its recent report focused on processes
for dealing with those suspects who may appear on the peripheries of several investigations,
associating with other “subjects of interest” and involving themselves with groups believed to
have criminal, extremist intent. The ISC suggested that further intrusive investigation would
be justified in these circumstances, noting that in the case of Adebolajo, internal MI5
recommendations for further investigation were apparently ignored due to resource issues. 73
62. More broadly, the handling of “low priority” individuals by the Agencies and police
was found to be seriously lacking:
“Clearly, MI5 must focus on the highest priority individuals. However, that leaves a
large group of individuals who may pose a threat to national security, but who are
not under active investigation. Previous attempts by MI5 and police to manage this
group have failed: we have yet to see any evidence that the new programme,
established in late 2013 will be any better…” 74
72 See Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, sections 14(2) and 14(7)
73 ISC Report, Recommendation B.
74 ISC Report, Recommendation F.