UK needs to step up embassy security says expert

Britain must beef up security at its embassies and consulates worldwide in line with the fortress mentality adopted by the United States, or risk further deadly attacks like the bomb blast in Turkey, security analysts said Friday.

“If your top diplomat in Istanbul can be blown to pieces, clearly the system has failed,” said Alex Standish, editor of Jane’s Intelligence Digest.

Consul-General Roger Short and 15 others were killed Thursday when a suicide bomber smashed a pickup truck into the gate of the British consulate in Istanbul. Another truck bomb exploded in front of the Turkish headquarters of HSBC, the world’s second-largest bank, killing 11 people.

The British government said appropriate security was in place at the consulate, but stressed that no system was watertight.

“Whatever precautions are taken to deal with the terrorist threat, it will always be possible for some terrorists to get through, and we must never ever shift responsibility for the atrocities and the deaths away from the terrorists,” said Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Analysts noted, however, that the United States had abandoned its consulate in the busy Beyoglu district months ago, deciding it was too unsafe, in favour of a new fortress-like compound in a more remote Istanbul neighbourhood.

Experts said Britain – Washington’s closest ally in the war on terror and coalition partner in Iraq – may have to follow America’s lead.

“The Americans have learned that if you are the world’s principal target for terror groups then you have to take extra measures,” said Standish. “At the end of the day, we have got to acknowledge that we are number two on the terrorists’ list. After the drastic steps taken by the Americans, our missions are the most accessible” to terrorists.

After truck bombs tore apart US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the United States spent £2.5 billion to fortify its diplomatic outposts.

Concrete barriers, towering walls, bombproof glass, metals detectors and netting to stop rockets have been installed at US missions across the globe. Embassies have been moved from downtown areas.

“Location is the most important,” said Charles Heyman, senior defence analyst for Jane’s Consultancy Group. “If you are out in the middle of nowhere, or away from a built-up area, you can ensure that nobody can get within 200 yards of the building.”

Britain has more than 200 missions around the world, and has taken steps to improve security in recent years.

The British Embassy in Indonesia recently built a blast wall around its compound in Jakarta and prevented vehicles from using a road directly behind it. Armed guards patrol around the clock.

The British High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan, like the US Embassy, is inside a diplomatic enclave with very tight security. Its walls are topped with razor wire and can only be reached after passing several checkpoints.

A new British Embassy is being built near the US compound in Tunis, Tunisia.

But striking a balance between protecting staff, and ensuring a mission can function and be accessible to the public is important to the British government.

“We believe that the measures that we have taken enable us to manage the risks to our staff and the post while enabling them to function effectively,” said a Foreign Office spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Michael Clarke, a defence expert at the International Policy Institute at London’s King’s College, said the British approach was sensible.

“The whole purpose of an embassy begins to fail when the embassy is a fortress that nobody can get into,” he said. ”It is very important that given that al-Qaida and terrorists are a threat to world governance and the international system, that embassies continue to function.”