Thread by @luminatus1

This report explores the impact that #security #thinktanks such as the Henry Jackson Society (#HJS) are having on British #democracy and societal cohesion
It highlights links between such groups & the British & international #FarRight which combine with patterns of divisive

far Right which combine with patterns of divisive and agenda-
driven reports based in impoverished methodologies to #shape UK #policy & #political #discourse for the worse.
Such groups have caused concern amongst numerous equalities, community, & faith groups &

& are cited as enabling & encouraging Islamophobia & racism, facilitating far
Right mobilisation, & pushing successive UK governments towards policy positions that damage societal cohesion.
This report brings together open-source articles, reports, & public instances of events

public instances of events to
document the problematic work being carried out by these security-focused think tanks & map the impact that they have had on British society.
Whilst the report is particularly concerned by the on-going work of HJS, the findings are applicable

applicable to a broad network of private & publicly funded security orgs tht benefit financially from the on-going #WarOnTerror, & which routinely publish poorly researched work, thereby encouraging hostile attitudes & repressive policies against Muslims/ minorities across the UK

Key Findings
• What little is known about HJS funding links it to a network of orgs in the UK &the US that appear to be funded with the common purpose of normalising the othering & exclusion of Muslim communities within Western public, political/social/cultural/economic life

Past & current key figures within #HJS present notable anti-Muslim, anti-Islam, & anti-immigration attitudes that #mirror far Right theories & political agendas to misrepresent & pathologise minority communities in the West

Supposedly ‘independent’ appointments of individuals emerging from security thinktanks (such as Robin Simcox’s appointment as interim head of the Commission for Countering Extremism, & William Shawcross being appointed to lead the Independent
Review of PREVENT) raise serious

raise serious concerns surrounding the nature & processes for independent appointments.
Indeed, considering the nature of these individuals’ political leanings & attitudes, the appointment of these figures suggests a deeply entrenched
political framing of the projects that

these figures suggests a deeply entrenched
political framing of the projects that they are tasked with overseeing.
• Many security think tanks rely on the use of limited data & constructed narratives to pursue a notably neo-conservative and far Right agenda.

While frequently popular in the
media & providing convenient political soundbites, these reports & ‘research’ are often lacking in methodological rigour & contextual information, thus often presenting a misleading depiction of events & misrepresenting Muslim communities under

misrepresenting Muslim communities under the guise of ostensibly academic & ‘evidence-driven’ analysis.
• A definition of ‘extremism’ often adopted within the Govn’s PREVENT strategy is that “the belief of an in-group’s success or survival can never be separated from the need

for hostile action against an out-group”.1
The reports of security think tanks, such as HJS, frequently appear to fall into this category by promoting hostility towards Muslims & minority groups as a seeming necessity for Western preservation.

As demonstrated by the work of HJS’s project, Student Rights, PREVENT is mobilised by security think tanks to make accusations of ‘extremism’, ultimately restricting &
diminishing Muslim political participation & excluding Muslim voices from legitimate political debates within

security think tanks to make accusations of ‘extremism’, ultimately restricting & diminishing Muslim political participation & excluding Muslim voices from legitimate
political debates within universities & elsewhere.
• Through close links with Govn Ministers, security think

Through close links with Govn Ministers, security think tanks, such as HJS, are able to encourage & promote institutional Islamophobia, thus pushing UK govns towards increasingly repressive policy positions against Muslims & minorities.
Meanwhile, public money from the UK Home

Meanwhile, public money from the UK Home Office has been spent in funding &advancing the work of the HJS.
The impact of this is to bring the far Right into the heart of the UK Govn, giving greater credence & strength to Islamophobic, xenophobic,& highly securitised narratives

giving greater credence/strength to Islamophobic/xenophobic/highly securitised narratives that frame Islam & Muslims in hostile terms

Security think tanks have bcome a prominent fixture in the landscape of British political life, particularly since the start of the War on Terror

since the start of the War on Terror following the 2001 attacks in the US & the Madrid & London bombings in 2004 & 2005.
Such orgs include Policy Exchange
(2002-), the Henry Jackson Society (2005-) & the now-defunct Quilliam (2008-2021), alongside
a host of smaller

host of smaller orgs tht tend to focus their attention on issues such as terrorism, extremism, & the promotion of free speech specifically to facilitate right-wing voices
The rise of orgs claiming such self-professed extremism ‘expertise’ has played a significant role in pattern

played a significant role in patterns of securitisation in Britain & the West
2 Research into security
concerns – largely built around combatting ‘Islamism’ as a supposed gateway to terrorism &
often conflating public articulations of Islam with extremism – have contributed

often conflating public articulations of Islam with extremism – have contributed to a climate of
suspicion towards Muslims, other minorities, and migrants in Britain.

3
Militarily, the War on Terror has been a resounding failure, resulting in the deaths of thousands

War on Terror has been a resounding failure, resulting in the deaths of 100's
& the failure of military engagements which have led to the rise of Islamic State in Iraq & the return of Taliban govn in Afghanistan.
However, even whilst international theatres of conflict show

conflict show the War on Terror to be poorly conceived & disastrously executed, its legacy at home in the UK continues to grow, with counterterror #language & #practice increasingly
#embedded across British society. Similar to the language of the Cold War, in which alarmist

Similar to the language of the Cold War, in which alarmist concern about communism led to the construction of an ‘enemy within’, the War on Terror has constructed Muslims as a new, internal threat, with Muslim communities framed as potentially
harbouring an enemy within

The logic of the War on Terror is very much alive, with a slew of recent counterterror & counter-
extremism policies proliferating in recent years.
The drive for much of this policy comes from security think tanks, which act as powerful #lobbying groups to promote security

which act as powerful lobbying groups to promote security interests within
recent UK govns.
These groups are often beholden to far Right & pro-Trumpian funders,
with many refusing to disclose their funding for fear of public or Parliamentary scrutiny.

Using the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) as a primary example, this report provides a brief & non-exhaustive analysis of open-source, publicly available data to detail the problems represented by security think tanks.

Focussed on the UK context, it highlights how orgs such as HJS

Focussed on the UK context, it highlights how orgs such as HJS &
similar security-focussed think tanks are intertwined with the global far Right & extreme funding bodies, how they conduct often poor-quality research, & how they maintain close links
to the UK Govn key ministers

& politicians. Indeed, one of HJS’s own founders, Matthew Jamison, has described the organisation as “racist”, “corrupt”, “undemocratic”, & a “monstrous animal” following revelations surrounding payments to the org to conduct political
smear campaigns, as well as calling it a

conduct political smear campaigns, as well as calling it a “far Right, deeply anti-Muslim racist organisation…
utilised as a propaganda outfit to smear other cultures, religions and ethnic groups”