Both of the suspects accused of butchering a British soldier during broad daylight on a London street had long been on the radar of Britain’s domestic spy agency, though investigators say it would have been nearly impossible to predict that the men were on the verge of a brutal killing.
Still, counter-terrorism officials said they are reviewing what — if any — lessons can be gleaned from the information they had leading up to the slaying Wednesday.
Authorities in the U.S. have similarly pledged to review their procedures in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, with the Boston police commissioner saying that cities should consider deploying more undercover officers and installing more surveillance cameras.
The British review comes amid an outpouring of grief over Wednesday’s slaughter of 25-year-old Lee Rigby of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Rigby, who had a two-year-old son, had served in Afghanistan. Detectives say they do not believe the attackers knew him or that he was specifically targeted, but they are still investigating.
“We are looking at decisions that were made and reviewing whether anything different could have been done,” said a British counter-terrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the investigation. “But you can’t put everyone under surveillance who comes on to the radar.”
Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday that the Intelligence and Security Committee would review the work of agencies such as Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, in the wake of the attack “as is the normal practice in these sorts of cases.”
In Britain, security officials operate under the “principle of proportionality,” which means there needs to a compelling reason before any type of surveillance is undertaken.
Surveillance can range from watching a person’s movements to intercepting phone calls and electronic communication. The greater the level of intrusion into a person’s privacy, the higher the level of government approval needed.
Although British police have not named either suspect — both are recovering from their injuries after being shot by police after the killing — they had been known to law enforcement officers for as long as six years, the counter-terrorism official said.
One of the suspects had been photographed at multiple raucous demonstrations by the banned extremist group al-Muhajiroun.
The extremist group, whose name means “The Emigrants” in Arabic, captured attention shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, when it organized an event celebrating the airline hijackers who slaughtered thousands in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
But attending such demonstrations, investigators say, is generally not enough to put someone under surveillance or to lead authorities to believe men or women will turn violent. Trolling the Internet for extremist sites is also no proof a person will turn to violence.
In last month’s Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 250, at least one of the suspects had been known to authorities.
Britain, meanwhile, was bracing for potential clashes with right-wing activists, who have promised demonstrations, as well as possible copycat terror attacks in the wake of Wednesday’s killing.
Nearly 1,200 extra police have been put on alert in London.
Wednesday’s attack was captured on video by passersby and made for gruesome viewing — one man is seen with his hands stained red with blood and holding two butcher’s knives as he angrily complained about the British government and troops in foreign lands.
Analysts say the attackers wanted the publicity to inspire copycats. Already, there has been increased chatter on militant sites, they said.
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