This is the first of three lecture modules that address counterterrorism in the United Kingdom. Tracing the UK response to violent subnational terrorism back to its efforts against the PIRA in the 1970s through the 1990s, these modules demonstrate how the UK counterterrorism community recognized long ago the serious threat to national security that subnational violence poses, and how its response to the recent violent terrorist activities of al-Qaeda is situated within an environment informed by the earlier "Irish Troubles." Additionally, the modules provide an overview of the contemporary counterterrorism organizational structure within the UK, and the challenges it faces in a world of increasing vulnerability and uncertainty.
