(C) U.S. State Dept
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A Counterterrorism Partnership in Action on the Streets of London [1]
['Jennifer Mitchell']
Date: 2024-08
The safe capture of horses that had escaped from King Charles III’s Cavalry would appear to have little to do with global counterterrorism efforts. But a closer look demonstrates otherwise.
My NATO colleague and I had arrived for our meeting with the Director of the UK National Interagency Liaison Officer (NILO) division of the London Fire Brigade. The office is our newest partner in a $3 million NATO counterterrorism project funded by the Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau.
Instead of walking into a typical meeting, the London Fire Brigade headquarters that April 24 morning was all cell phones, walkie-talkies, and CCTV coverage — and royal horses running wild through downtown London’s busiest streets.
This was an active security operation in which the Director and his team were managing the escape of seven horses from the King’s Household Cavalry while NILO officers were furiously tracking the riderless horses.
Coordinating in Real Time
The NILO Director coordinated in real time with counterparts across the UK’s security services to ensure all relevant agencies resourced the situation sufficiently and responded appropriately. Within a few minutes of our arrival, the Large Animal Division of the Royal Army caught the last of the horses. Through careful interagency coordination the seven animals were all cared for, injured Londoners were safely transported to the hospital, and the bus, cycle, and car accidents were being managed. Aside from the rare sight of horses galloping down Buckingham Palace Road, this was just another day for NILO.
What does this have to do with counterterrorism?
Created in 2001 and expanded after the 2017 terrorist attacks in the UK, the NILO approach breaks down silos of authority, information, and jurisdiction that can hamper an effective security response. The division creates an infrastructure for multiagency communication to facilitate the effective resolution of a terrorist attack using the same approach as facing the unexpected crisis of escaped horses racing a double decker tour bus.
When NILO begins training NATO partner security officials in October as part of the Counterterrorism Bureau project, it will join a cadre of police and military officers from across the NATO Alliance working to support partners’ counterterrorism efforts.
Counterterrorism Bureau and NATO Partnership
Since 2020, the Counterterrorism Bureau has been working to advance civilian-military coordination and increase whole-of-government information sharing with NATO partners in the Middle East and North Africa. This partnership with NATO leverages the Alliance’s unique expertise and capabilities to strengthen counterterrorism. As the world’s largest political-military organization, NATO has a depth and reach far beyond the capabilities of any one Ally.
NATO Centers of Excellence and the Alliance’s network of partnerships serve as amplifying force multipliers around the world, extending NATO’s ability to implement activities using highly respected national gendarmerie forces such as the Italian Carabinieri and Spanish Guardia Civil. This multiplier effect is especially relevant where counterterrorism law enforcement responsibilities are shared with the military, as in NATO’s southern neighborhood.
NATO protects 1 billion+ people in Europe & North America from 21st-century threats, from cybercrime to pandemics such as COVID-19, and empowers all members to have an equal voice in decisions affecting the alliance. Read some examples of @NATO in action.
https://t.co/Z7zNuSVBRv — Department of State (@StateDept) February 25, 2023
The Counterterrorism Bureau’s contribution to NATO is the United States’ first counterterrorism project with the Alliance. It enables the United States to build partner capacity throughout the region in:
battlefield evidence
complex terrorist attacks response
border security
interagency coordination, and
cultural property protection as a means to counter terrorist financing.
Doing so creates a community of command-level security actors who are on the front lines of counterterrorism efforts every day. The training brings together participants from across the region to learn from each other and facilitates information exchange.
Through a whole-of-government approach involving civilian law enforcement actors, as well as armed forces, defense, and security personnel, this program improves partners’ ability to stop terrorism before it reaches us and our Allies.
No one can fight terrorism alone. Countering terrorism requires a comprehensive and collective response, and creative partnerships like NATO and NILO — the latest tool in this capacity building project’s toolbox — help extend our reach to support partner countries more effectively.
Jennifer Mitchell is a Foreign Affairs Officer with the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism.
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[1] Url:
https://www.state.gov/a-counterterrorism-partnership-in-action-on-the-streets-of-london/?utm_source=news_bar&utm_medium=dipnote
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