The DGSE, the French intelligence service charged with protecting President Chirac at the summit, discovered that European anarchists, including the Ya Basta group, had recently met with Class War, a notorious British anarchist group, at Calais. Both groups were known to advocate violent protest. Germany’s BND secret service confirmed that German anarchists had also recently attended “a conference of anarchists” held outside Nottingham in England.
MI5, who would jointly coordinate the multinational security operation with MI6, were already hunting for an Italian terrorist nicknamed “The Raven” who was believed to have entered Britain and was known to have links to an al-Qaeda cell in Bologna, Italy, a well-known hotbed for terrorists. Details about him were discovered in a raid by Italian agents that led to the arrest of eighty anarchists who had been planning to go to Gleneagles. The CIA had assigned two hundred agents and state-of-the-art electronic equipment to protect President Bush. Russia’s three intelligence services, the GRU, the FCS, and the SVR, had provided MI5 with identikits of Chechnyan terrorists who could attempt an attack on the summit. The FCS, the Federal Counterintelligence Service, had warned JTAC (Joint Terrorism Analysis Center) that it should not discount a suicide bomber attacking during the summit.
Trying to avert that possibility had taken Nathan once more into the Muslim enclaves in the north of England. Not only did Mossad have its sayanim there, but it had also built up a network of informers within the Muslim communities. Mostly young, they risked their own lives and those of their families by providing information. They, too, had been alerted to watch for any signs that a suicide bomber attack was being planned.
In London, as part of the preparations for the G8 Summit, Mossad had already circulated a document to the police and security services on how Mossad had learned to identify a suicide bomber. In part the document read:
A suicide bomber will be young, at most in his late twenties. While he will usually be a male, remember there are an increasing number of female bombers. A bomber will either be carrying a rucksack filled with explosives or a bag, similarly equipped. A person about to undertake something so high risk will be perspiring. Look at hands; are they perspiring? Look at the eyes. Are they furtive? Does the person constantly look around? Are they making an obvious attempt not to make eye contact? A suicide bomber will usually wear a baseball cap or other headgear that will hide the face from close-circuit television. If the bomb is in a bag, the bomber may constantly check it, especially on public transport. Look at physical shape. Average-sized legs usually mean an average-sized body. But if the person is bulkier than their legs, neck, or face suggest, that could be suspicious. Do not in any circumstances challenge the suspect. If you shout ‘it’s a bomb!’, you will most likely panic the bomber into detonating it. And remember: a suicide bomber has to live somewhere. His or her behaviour may have aroused suspicion in his community. Good intelligence will likely mean you have someone in that community to alert you. But also remember there is no precise science to spot a bomber. It depends on past experience and luck.
