UK Terror Threat Levels

The national threat level for the UK from all forms of terrorism, including Islamist, extreme right-wing, LASIT and Northern Ireland are set by Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC).

The threat level for Northern Ireland is calculated separately by security services.

To reach a decision on the threat level in any situation, several factors need to be taken into account.

These are:

• Available intelligence. It's rare a specific threat information is available and can be relied upon. Often, judgements about the threat will be based on a range of information, such as the level and nature of current terrorist activity, comparison with events in other countries and previous attacks. Intelligence will only reveal part of the picture
   
• Terrorist capability. The capabilities of the terrorists in question are analysed as well as the method they may use based on previous attacks or from intelligence. This will also analyse the potential scale of the attack.
   
• Terrorist intentions. Intelligence and publicly available information is analysed to establish the aims of the terrorists and the ways they may achieve their goal, including the type of targets they'll consider.
   
• Timescale. The threat level shows the likelihood of an attack in the near future. Experience from past incidents shows some attacks take years to plan, while others are put together quicker. In the absence of specific intelligence, a judgement is made about how close an attack might be. Threat levels do not have an expiry date, but are regularly reviewed in to ensure they remain relavent.