Jeff Quinton is on top of the latest anti-terrorism raid around London. 13 arrests so far of individuals “on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.”

Update: Citizen Smash has the latest and also offers these cogent thoughts and a challenge:

COUNTER-TERRORISM is a very serious business. We shouldn’t have to keep reminding ourselves of this self-evident fact, but in an election year, almost any news story can rapidly devolve into a partisan mudfest.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In my military career, I’ve been involved in counter-terrorism since 1999. During that time, I’ve seen numerous threat briefings that attempted to extrapolate possible terrorist strategies out of the most obscure bits of intelligence. We routinely ramp up security on the flimsiest of premises, as a matter of policy. I’ve personally ordered specific security measures in response to analysis of vague, uncorroborated intelligence reports dating back five, six, and even seven years.

Why do we do this? Because the best deterrence against terror attack is to present a “hard target profile” to the would-be attackers. We know that al Qaeda operatives typically spend several months or even years surveiling a potential target, probing for weaknesses. By increasing security of likely targets on the basis of the slightest intelligence (or even at random), we can disrupt their planning process, and possibly force them to abandon a plan altogether.

The easiest time to thwart a potential terrorist plan is during this critical planning period. If the surveillance can be detected, it may be possible to track the movement of the reconnaissance elements, and ultimately bust an entire terrorist cell.

But typically, the critical piece of information that thwarts an attack won’t come from captured documents, or even trained security personnel. It generally comes from an alert civilian who witnesses suspicious activity, and reports it to authorities.

As the heroes of Flight 93 demonstrated on that horrible day three years ago, every one of us is a soldier in the war against terrorism.

Is your head in the fight?

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