MI5 "No 7/7 warning" & terror to your inbox

[TonyGosling]

What Bullying-Manner doesn't say though is anything about the alleged phone call from Scotland Yard to the Israeli Embassy minutes before the blasts which is a clear piece of evidence that there was limited prior warning. The only thing that is certain is that Netenyahu was told not to leave his hotel, whether by his own Embassy or by Scotland Yard is unclear, both deny being the origin of the warning.
Always wondered what all those thousands of managers got up to in Millbank other than forcing their hapless staff to help foreign intelligence services bug, burgle, harrass and arrest people in the UK. Now we know - they've just discovered email. = Tony

UK's MI5: No terror threat before 7/7
http://english.people.com.cn/200701/10/eng20070110_339819.html

The head of Britain's domestic spy service told a group of senior lawmakers there was no imminent terrorist threat to the country less than 24 hours before the London bombings in July 2005, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Eliza Manningham-Buller, director-general of MI5, had been speaking at a private meeting of members of parliament for the governing Labour Party on the morning of July 6, the Guardian said, citing a number of those present.
She assured the group of a dozen parliamentary officials there was "no imminent threat to London or the country", the newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying.
The following day, four British Muslim suicide bombers attacked three subway trains and a bus during rush hour in the capital, killing themselves and 52 commuters.
A comment was not immediately available from the Home Office on the report, which drew a scathing response from the main opposition Conservative Party.
David Davis, Conservative spokesman for internal affairs, reiterated a call for an independent rather than a public inquiry into the attacks.
"It is absolutely necessary for the continued security of the British public that we know precisely if, when and how security failures have occurred, and for action to be taken to minimise the risk of it happening again," Davis told the paper.
Manningham-Buller said last month she would retire next year after more than three decades in the intelligence service, leaving at a time when MI5 faces heightened pressure to counter new terrorist threats.
The spy chief warned in November that Islamic extremists were plotting at least 30 major terrorist attacks in Britain and the threats may involve chemical and nuclear devices.

Terror alert e-mails
The MI5 launched a new e-mail alert service yesterday to warn the public about changes in the security threat level. Internet users will be able to register on the MI5 website to receive automatic electronic updates in their e-mail inboxes.
The e-mail alerts are the latest in a series of moves by MI5 and its partner, the international spy agency MI6, to open up to the public after decades of guarding extreme secrecy.
"It's part of the service's ongoing effort to improve its public communications and contribute to the government's policy of keeping the public informed about the national threat level," a spokeswoman for the home office said.
In recent years both MI5 and MI6 have begun to emerge from the shadows, launching websites offering security advice and information about careers in the spy services, and even running recruitment advertisements in newspapers. The spokeswoman said the e-mail alert service would inform people of threat level ratings which the government has been making public since last August.
The current rating is "severe", the second-highest level indicating the government believes an attack is highly likely. As well as signing up for threat updates, Internet users will also be able to register for e-mail alerts on any other new information posted on the MI5 website.

Source: China Daily/agencies


MI5 to use email to send terror alerts
Posted by Reuters at 10:39AM, Tuesday 9th January 2007
http://www.itpro.co.uk/internet/news/101498/mi5-to-use-email-to-send-t error-alerts.html

Public to receive details of current security status in attempt to improve awareness and accountability.
MI5, otherwise known as the UK Security Service, has confirmed it will launch a public email alert service to warn the population about changes in the security threat level.
Users will be able to register on the MI5 web site to receive automatic electronic updates in their email inboxes.
The email alerts are the latest in a series of efforts by MI5 and its partner, the international spy agency MI6, to open up to the public after decades of guarding extreme secrecy.
"It's part of the service's ongoing effort to improve its public communications and contribute to the government's policy of keeping the public informed about the national threat level," a spokeswoman for the Home Office said.
In recent years both MI5 and MI6 have begun to emerge from the shadows, launching web sites offering security advice and information about careers in the spy services, and even running recruitment advertisements in newspapers.
The spokeswoman said the email alert service would inform people of threat level ratings which the government has been making public since last August.
The current rating is "severe", the second-highest level -- indicating the government believes an attack is highly likely.
The head of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, said last November that there were at least 30 active Islamist militant plots in Britain and the threats could involve chemical or nuclear devices.
As well as signing up for threat updates, Internet users will also be able to register for email alerts on any other new information posted on the MI5 web site. http://www.mi5.gov.uk/

[Busker]

Don't subscribe to the email list unless you have read spyblog.org.uk

The details are passed to the USA and aren't even encrypted!

[Mark Gobell]

MI5 e-mail alert signup shambles - all email subscription web forms sent to the USA, without encryption

What a shambles over the heavily hyped "MI5 e-mail alert system", which failed to be available on Tuesday morning, as was implied in the media, but which has appeared on Tuesday evening, with all the appearance of a rushed job !

Astonishingly, MI5, the Security Service, part of whose remit is supposed to be giving protection advice against electronic attacks over the internet, is sending all our personal details (forename, surname and email address) unencrypted to commercial third party e-mail marketing and tracking companies which are physically and legally in the jurisdiction of the United States of America, and is even not bothering to make use of the SSL / TLS encrypted web forms and processing scripts which are already available to them.

Is this evidence of a rush job, to satisfy the demands of the Home Office spin doctors or is it incompetence, or indifference to the privacy and security of the general public ?

http://www.spy.org.uk/spyblog/

[TonyGosling]

MI5 in new terror alert data bungle

Can these dangerous baffoons do anything right? No.
This dismal story just goes to reveal the true agenda of those running MI5: privatisation, surveillance info. available to the highest bidder, and foreign control of British citizens' personal information.
MI5's official role is to PREVENT this happening and here they are promoting it.
Sack the top 5% of MI5 fat cat bosses, bossettes and managers and we might have an MI5 that uses taxpayers money to do its job.

[zennon]

Gotta love these terror alerts. I think Stan Smith from "American Dad" said it best concerning them:

"we're at terror alert orange! Which means something might go down somewhere in some way at some point in time...

Is it me or are these alerts completely meaningless ? Sort of like junk-email ?

[Mark Gobell]

Good question.

History has it that they are usually lowered just before an event.

I would guess that most of the great British public don't know and don't care about them unless it interferes with their daily dose of soap.

So, what purpose do they serve ?

Security is in control ?

They know what is going on and we should trust them ?

A backdoor through which to run when they can say "we did tell you" ?

Nobody gives a flying fig about them, it's just public relations, or propaganda to you and me.

It would be better if they had a set of traffic lights so that we could all see when they were about to miss or create the next event.

But, then it wouldn't have the same effect would it.