Uighurs in Bermuda
Tue, 2009-06-16
Reports in the public domain have been unclear and inaccurate as it relates to the Bermuda Police Service and the Commissioner’s role in assessing the threat of the Uighurs. Outlined below is a chronology of the process to date.
The Commissioner of Police was made aware on Thursday morning June 11th of the arrival of the Uighurs from Guantanamo Bay.
On Friday morning (June 12th) the Commissioner received a folder with unclassified information in relation to the Uighurs. On receipt of the documents the Bermuda Police Service conducted a “preliminary threat assessment.” Based on the limited information available, the overall threat assessment was deemed to be ‘high’. This was conveyed to the Governor and Minister Burch on Friday afternoon. Simultaneously, contact was made with our security agency partners and a more comprehensive threat assessment was commenced. This process is not yet complete.
The public should not be unduly alarmed at the designation of ‘high risk.’ The status of ‘high risk’ has been arrived at largely because of the lack of specific information. It is therefore not possible to put any further context around the assessment until a number of questions have been answered.
Editor’s Note: A comprehensive threat assessment is a multi-dimensional analysis of information across a range of risk factors which include but are not limited to:
- Public security & safety
- Terrorism risk
- Political risk both internal & external
- Reputational risk
- Business risk
