AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW Key Implications Given the likenesses between these two networks, it is likely any future European Islamist terrorist networks will share some of the same characteristics. If these networks are to be successfully challenged before they develop, government policy and law enforcement practice must take a number of implications into account. These include: Understanding that future terrorist networks will be fuelled by recruitment networks which channel people overseas, and the necessity of disrupting these networks as early as possible; •! Recruitment networks which sought to send people to Afghanistan and Syria were not broken up by law enforcement agencies before dozens of individuals had travelled. Assessing how long to gather evidence prior to arresting those involved in terrorist activity has been one of the most difficult challenges facing the police and security services, but this report suggests that even when convictions are achieved, if the network has operated for too long there can still be devastating consequences. Dealing more effectively with recidivism and propagandising to ensure those convicted of offences are not able to recruit in future; •! Those who have been convicted of terrorism offences must be prevented from passing on their ideology, experience, and contacts to a younger generation, as in the cases highlighted in this report. Licence conditions can only go so far in this case, and as such, developing policies to deal with recidivism and better identify individuals associating with previously convicted terrorists must be considered a key policy task. Meanwhile, organisations which seek to promote material produced by imprisoned terrorist recruiters must also be challenged. Ensuring individuals returning from jihadist conflicts are dealt with as rigorously as the law allows, and developing policy to address gaps in legislation and law enforcement; •! Given the threat posed by individuals with combat training or experience, it is clear that approaches suggesting foreign fighters be allowed to return home when disillusioned or be subject to increased surveillance/deradicalisation programmes on return rather than arrest must be reassessed. However, this faces the difficulty that simply travelling to such conflict zones is not illegal. Ensuring as many individuals who can be proven to have fought with proscribed groups are prosecuted to the full extent of the law, expanding the list of proscribed organisations, and significantly prioritising the development of programmes to challenge returning/aspirant fighters will be vital if this issue is to be dealt with effectively. Improving efforts to challenge radicalisation in prisons and developing more effective policy to prevent offenders being drawn into terrorism; •! One of the most prominent biographical details identified as common to members of both networks was a history of petty crime. The extent crime featured in the backgrounds of network members suggests processes to recognise the risk of radicalisation to petty criminals have not been developed effectively enough, and that there has been a gross failure to take prison radicalisation seriously. It also highlights the importance of improving the processes for identifying the signs of increasing radicalism in offenders both prior to any imprisonment and following release. ! ! 3 !