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EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator mulls 'terrorism in times of corona'

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10 June 2020

An internal note by the EU's Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, published here in full.

"A changed political focus and the impending economic crisis may also prompt a re-allocation of scarce resources, leading to smaller budgets for counter-terrorism. It would be a serious mistake, however, to neglect counter-terrorism at the expense of other priorities. We must prevent the current health and economic crisis from becoming a security crisis as well.

...This note explores the following questions:

• Will the corona crisis exacerbate support for terrorism and violent extremism?
• To what extent do terrorists and violent extremists exploit the crisis in their propaganda? How do they fit the crisis in their political narrative?
• Do terrorists change their modus operandi as a result of the pandemic? Do they even attempt to 'weaponise' the virus?
• Do terrorists adapt their choice of targets as a result of the corona crisis?
• Does the crisis engender new forms of terrorism and violent extremism?"

EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator: Terrorism in Times of Corona: The development of the terrorist threat as a result of the Covid-19 crisis (7838/20, LIMITE, 7 May 2020, pdf)