British jihadi killed in drone attack a ‘serious threat’, report concludes

A report published by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament has concluded that Reyaad Khan, a British member of so-called Islamic State killed in an RAF drone strike in Syria, posed a ‘very serious threat to the UK. The inquiry into Reyaad’s death began in 2015 over concerns about the legality of the attack and whether it had been necessary and proportionate. The attack was the first UK drone strike on a British terrorist target outside of military operations. Dominic Grieve QC, chairman of the committee, said: “In terms of the severity of the threat posed by Reyaad Khan, it appears from the 25 intelligence reports and two formal intelligence assessments that we have seen that Khan was a prolific recruiter and attack­planner. Over the course of nine months he, alongside another plotter (Junaid Hussain), encouraged multiple operatives around the world to conduct attacks against the UK and our allies. “They provided practical instructions for the manufacture of bombs, and information on targets. We are in no doubt that Reyaad Khan posed a very serious threat to the UK. There is nevertheless a question as to how the threat is quantified and in this instance whether the actions of Khan and his associates amounted to an ‘armed attack’ against the UK or Iraq – which is clearly a subjective assessment.” Grieve argued: “However we have been unable to consider how Ministers made that assessment since we were denied sight of the key Ministerial submission. This failure to provide what we consider to be relevant documents is profoundly disappointing. Oversight depends on primary evidence: the government should open up the ministerial decision­making process to scrutiny on matters of such seriousness.” 
 “On the basis of the information that was made available to us, there would appear to be questions around the assessment of the possibility of collateral damage which would benefit from further scrutiny. While the Defence Select Committee might expect to be able to scrutinise this issue, we note that government may refuse them access to the related intelligence material on grounds of classification. There is therefore a serious concern that this matter will go unscrutinised. “It is to the Agencies’ credit that their investigation of Khan’s activities led to the disruption of the attacks he planned, thereby avoiding what could have been very significant loss of life. Nevertheless our inquiry into the intelligence on Khan has revealed wider policy issues surrounding the strike itself – notably around the ministerial decision­making process and the assessment of collateral damage. The government should be more transparent about these matters and permit proper scrutiny of them.”