London attack a reminder of fears for post-Brexit security cooperation

Hours before Wednesday’s attack in London, the head of the EU police agency Europol warned that a large group of radicalised individuals posed a constant threat to Britain and Europe. In the year between those incidents and the attack that killed three people and injured dozens near Britain’s parliament, European security officials say intelligence sharing on potential threats has increased 10-fold. More work is being done to tighten security by streamlining databases, clamping down on identity fraud and making reporting of suspicious individuals obligatory. Britain is one of the top three users of Europol data. But as it leaves the EU, there is a risk that it will be shut out of this cooperation, becoming more vulnerable to Islamist radicals who have killed 300 people across Europe over the past two years. The suspect in the London attack was British-born, and Britain is not part of the EU’s open-border Schengen zone. But London still shares with its EU peers fears, and information, about Islamists, often radicalised online, returning home after going to train or fight with jihadists in the Middle East, North Africa or Afghanistan. British security officials warned parliament last year of the dangers of leaving Europol and the agreement covering the European Arrest Warrant, which requires all EU governments to arrest a suspect wanted in another EU country.Limits of cooperationBritain does already have additional bilateral security agreements with fellow EU members France and Germany, as well as the long-standing “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing pact with the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Under EU agreements, transferring fingerprints and DNA data can take minutes. With Britain outside the EU, the Global Risk Insights think-tank says it could take months. Some critics do note that information-sharing within the EU is still far for perfect. While France and Germany have large, well-staffed intelligence agencies, years of neglect in Belgium’s secret services were exposed by last year’s airport and metro blasts.