Terror threat secretly lowered
The official terror threat level has been secretly lowered for the first time since the London bombings on July 7.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, the threat level has been reduced from the highest level of “critical”, or Level One, to “severe general”, or Level 2G.
The decision is said to have been made on Thursday by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), because intelligence sources do not have any specific information relating to imminent attacks.
However, while the threat level has been reduced, the alert level which dictates how buildings and transport systems are guarded and affects police manpower, remains at its highest setting.
Tory homeland security spokesman, Patrick Mercer, was highly critical of the secrecy that has surrounded the change of the official threat level, saying the public should have been informed.
He said: “It is entirely within the remit of JTAC to lower the threat level if the intelligence suggests that there is no likelihood of an attack, but why has this information not been relayed to the public?”
A Home Office spokesman said: “It is government policy not to comment on threat levels for a wide range of reasons including security. Advice would be issued if the public needed to take specific action.”
