Britain set out proposals Wednesday to beef up its ability to wage a long-term campaign against global terrorism, amid fears that an attack on British soil is inevitable.
Dramatically increasing manpower at MI5, the nation's domestic intelligence agency, was one of the measures outlined in parliament by Home Secretary David Blunkett.
Other plans call for legal changes to make it easier to prosecute and convict terrorism suspects, bringing British anti-terrorist laws closer to those in the United States in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
The proposals were set out in a discussion paper titled "Counter Terrorism Powers: Reconciling Security and Liberty in an Open Society".
As reported in the British press over the weekend, Blunkett announced plans to boost the size of MI5 by 50 percent - in effect, adding 1,000 new operatives - "in the next few years".
Three million pounds (4.5 million euros, 5.7 million dollars) will also be spent on regional police anti-terrorist intelligence cells.
"I am in no doubt that the terrorism threat remains and the need to have the right legislation in place is greater than ever," Blunkett said.
Regarding forthcoming anti-terror law reforms, the home secretary said: "We are not advocating any particular course."
One of the proposals would allow secretly taped telephone calls to be used as evidence at trials of terrorism suspects.
Prompting the debate is the looming expiration in 2006 of the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Law, adopted in 2001, under which 14 foreigners are being held indefinitely in high-security jails without trial.
Some 500 other people have been arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000, the main anti-terrorist law in Britain, but only seven have been convicted.
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