{"id":26816,"date":"2016-06-01T11:00:54","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T01:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=26816"},"modified":"2016-06-08T17:40:27","modified_gmt":"2016-06-08T07:40:27","slug":"agenda-change-2016-counterterrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/agenda-change-2016-counterterrorism\/","title":{"rendered":"Agenda for Change 2016: counterterrorism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This piece is drawn from<\/span><\/i> Agenda for Change 2016: strategic choices for the next government<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The day-to-day focus of most of a government\u2019s time in office is on matters seemingly unrelated to terrorism and counterterrorism. Social policy, the economy, employment, industry and defence are among the things that will most regularly come to the government\u2019s attention and absorb its time. But when terrorist attacks occur, the government\u2019s attention will be focused on nothing else.<\/span><\/p>\n

The incoming government\u2019s time in office will witness both terrorist attacks in Australia and attacks overseas affecting Australians and Australia\u2019s interests. Australians will continue to feature among the perpetrators and supporters of terrorism.<\/p>\n

Three-quarters of post-9\/11 attacks and disrupted plots in Australia have occurred since September 2014, when Australia\u2019s terror alert level was first raised to \u2018PROBABLE\u2019 (a terror attack is likely). Australia has experienced three attacks and nine disrupted plots to date. Around 110\u00a0Australians are fighting in terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria, 50\u201359 have been killed and around 40\u00a0have returned to Australia. Another 177 have been prevented from leaving Australia through passport cancellation, and 33 have had their passports suspended. Agencies are currently investigating around 400 terrorism cases.<\/p>\n

Plenty of government resources have been invested in counterterrorism. The public reasonably expects that the threat of terrorism will be contained, plots will be disrupted and\u2014importantly\u2014a clear and well-exercised response capability will be demonstrated should an incident occur. Work done by law enforcement and security agencies to date to counter terrorism and violent extremism has held Australia in good stead, but this is a dynamic area for policy. Effective counterterrorism requires ongoing attention and incremental improvement.<\/p>\n

Many counterterrorism-related programs and initiatives are in place under the Commonwealth, state and territory governments. But there\u2019s no shared strategy, framework and plan linking and directing them towards collective goals. There\u2019s also no common platform of easily accessible information communicating Australia\u2019s counterterrorism efforts to the Australian public and the international community.<\/p>\n

A strategic plan for counterterrorism should explain the terrorist threat, what the government\u2019s doing and what it plan to do, and provide a structure to guide future activity. The 2015 Counter-Terrorism Strategy<\/em><\/a> provides a foundation for this work, as it describes a shared vision of the problem and work that\u2019s underway.<\/p>\n

The strategic plan for counterterrorism would take that further to direct and frame future shared activity and provide guidance to all stakeholders\u2014the Commonwealth, states and territories, businesses, community\u2014on the full program of activity. The plan could also provide the basis for a public counterterrorism annual report.<\/p>\n

Regular counterterrorism training exercises for Australia\u2019s decision-makers would put the government in the best position to respond to a real life attack. Scenarios informed by real assessments across the threat spectrum should be used regularly to familiarise the Prime Minister, the premiers, relevant ministers, statutory office-holders and commanders with what they must do when an incident occurs.<\/p>\n

Australia could benefit from formal, ongoing programs and procedures to review the exercise and draw lessons from and for all stakeholders, consisting of:<\/p>\n