State security: why we’re at risk
Our intelligence structures are ill equipped to deal with modern security threats: cyber attacks, industrial espionage or an attack on the UK from this state
Intelligence failure: wreckage from the IRA bombing of Lord Mountbatten’s boat, killing him and three others, in Co Sligo in 1979. Photograph: Pat Langan
Islamic State has called on radicalised jihadis to attack western interests wherever possible. Reports this autumn that up to 30 Irish residents are fighting with Islamic State in Syria and Iraq are a cause for concern: radicalised fighters returning with bombmaking and other terrorist knowledge could seriously threaten our security. If the UK was attacked from the Republic it would be catastrophic for our relationship. Faced with such threats we must ensure our national-security and intelligence structures are fit for purpose.
During the cold war, European states enhanced their civilian intelligence services. The Republic, protected from foreign encroachments by larger neighbours, did not worry much about national security from an external perspective: the internal threat took priority.