British Jihadists and the UK Surveillance State

by Soeren Kern • June 27, 2014 at 5:00 am

"The whole area of intercept needs to be looked at. We have got a real debate, and it is a genuine debate in a democracy, between the libertarians who say the state must not get too powerful and pretty much the rest of us who say the state must protect itself." — Liam Fox, Former British Secretary of Defense

In his testimony, Farr defends the practice because Britain has for "many years faced a serious threat from terrorism," especially the threat derived from "militant Islamist terrorists." He says the practice has prevented terrorist attacks and saved lives.

An ISIS recruitment video released in June 2014, titled "There is no life without Jihad", features British and Australian Muslims fighting in Syria and Iraq.

A recent spike in the number of British jihadists fighting with Sunni militant groups in Syria and Iraq is fuelling a heated debate over how much government surveillance is necessary to keep the United Kingdom safe from domestic terrorism.

The British government is asking for additional surveillance powers to monitor British jihadists who might be planning attacks in the UK after their return from the fighting in the Middle East.

But privacy groups counter that the British state has already amassed massive surveillance powers, and that what the government really wants is a free rein to monitor all of the communications of every man, woman and child in Britain.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has warned that the greatest threat to national security is from British citizens and other Europeans fighting with the Sunni militant group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS]. At a press conference on June 17, he said:

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