After waiting 10 years, Gordon Brown finally took over the British premiership from Tony Blair on June 27, 2007. And one of the new prime minister's key challenges has been the poisoned chalice of security issues handed to him by his predecessor.
As a result Brown has spent much of his first six months making adjustments to this crucial area of government policy.
CHALLENGES FOR BROWN
During his tenure as prime minister, Blair actively pushed Britain to play an important role in solving the world's issues.
In spite of Iraq, Blair's keenness for British involvement in world affairs remained undimmed, as seen with his high profile stance on the issues of African poverty and climate change.
One question for Brown was whether he would continue to maintain Britain's interventionist approach. Blair had frequently sent British troops abroad, and deployments remained at a constantly high level during his time in office.
Up to now, Britain has maintained a military presence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Macedonia and Bosnia. Currently, Britain has about 5,500 troops in Iraq, and the more than 6,000 soldiers based in Afghanistan are to increase to around 7,700 over the course of the year.
The frequent high tempo of British troop deployments abroad has put much pressure on Brown to consider the level of spending on defense.
In recent years, several senior officers publicly warned that British troops were stretched, and needed more resources if they were to maintain such a high level of deployments. Constant operations abroad have resulted in insufficient gaps between deployments and training.
Blair's insistence in following the United States in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 has hit Britain's reputation in the world, and worsened its domestic security situation. The popularity of the Labour Party has also been seriously undermined. British involvement in Iraq was the main reason for widespread disillusionment with Blair, and ultimately led to him stepping down as prime minister.
Another great challenge for Brown's government was the threat from Islamist terrorism. On June 29, just two days into Brown's premiership, two unexploded car bombs were found in the center of London. The following day an attempt was made to explode a car bomb at Glasgow airport in Scotland.
Analysts say that British foreign policy, especially its role in the Middle East, are to blame for these disasters. Many people believed that British involvement in the Iraq war had caused the July 7, 2005, bombings in London, which killed 52 people.
BROWN'S ADJUSTMENTS IN SECURITY POLICY
It was the attempted terrorist attacks that prompted Brown to embark on a mission to adjust British security policy.
Firstly, Brown strengthened domestic emergency measures to prevent further terrorist attacks. On June 30, the day after the two unexploded car bombs in London, Britain raised its national security alert level to "critical," the highest rating, which means an attack is imminent.
In the following three days, Brown called for four Cabinet Office Briefing Room A (Cobra) meetings - the civil contingencies committee which leads responses to national crises.
On July 25, Brown set out a series of measures to increase national security and to help defeat terrorism, calling for a change to the current 28-day limit on holding terror suspects without charge.
Brown also announced plans to "strengthen the powers and surveillance capability of border guards and security officers" by establishing a unified border force against terrorism.
He said, "Our priority as a government is a Britain strong in security, robust in our resolve, resilient in response, so that as a nation we both defeat terrorism and isolate violent extremism, wherever we confront it and whatever its source."
Secondly, Brown has realized that the war on terror could not be won by means of military power, and that it also required action to win "hearts and minds."
Brown said the terrorist threat was "long term" and "sustained," and it was about those people who are essentially violent extremists, who had a grievance against society, particularly against the common values that decent people in all religions represent.
On Sept. 24, Brown said at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, southern England, that to win the war against terrorism "will require more than military force," and Britain would work with its allies "to isolate extremism and win the battle of hearts and minds."
Thirdly, Brown proposed constitutional reforms to entrust more power to Parliament and the British people. Under his proposals, parliamentary approval would be required to declare war and to ratify international treaties. He would also set up a national security council and regularly publish a national security strategy.
Fourthly, Brown has further tightened security measures to combat terrorism and strengthen the resilience of communities to resist extremist influences.
On Nov. 14, Brown announced measures to give better protection against terror attacks on strategic infrastructure, stations, ports and airports, as well as other crowded places.
These measures include the installation of robust physical barriers as protection against vehicle bomb attacks, the nomination of vehicle exclusion zones to keep all but authorized vehicles at a safe distance, and making buildings blast resistant.
"While no major failures in our protective security have been identified, companies responsible for crowded places will now be given detailed and updated advice on how they can improve their resilience against attacks, both by better physical protection and greater vigilance in identifying suspicious behavior," he said.
New guidance will be sent to thousands of cinemas, theatres, restaurants, hotels, sporting venues and commercial centers, as well as all hospitals, schools and places of worship. The guidance will include advice on training staff to be more vigilant.
Finally, Brown adjusted policy on Iraq, setting a timetable for the withdrawal of troops.
In fact, before taking office as prime minister, Brown had been aware that the Iraq war would be the greatest burden left by his predecessor.
In May, Brown admitted at a Labour Party hustings meeting that Britain had made mistakes over the situation in Iraq, and that thewar had "clearly divided " the nation. Brown took "collective responsibility" for the decision to go to war in Iraq.
In October, Brown announced that Britain would reduce its troops in Iraq to 2,500 by spring 2008, the first time that Britain had set a clear timetable for a troop withdrawal from the Middle East country.
Brown still has plenty of challenges to address in the areas offoreign policy and domestic issues before the next general election, which must be called by May 2010 but is likely to be in 2009.
Source:Xinhua
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