London is seeing an unprecedented amount of security as thousands wait in line to pay their respect to Queen Elizabeth II and with many world leaders expected to attend the late monarch's funeral on Monday.
Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96 after 70 years on the throne, is currently lying in state in Parliament's historic Westminster Hall, where her coffin will remain until her funeral at Westminster Abbey.
British media have reported that as many as 750,000 people could travel to London for the state funeral, with an estimated 10,000 police officers on duty each day leading up to it.
"It's a combination of the Olympics, all the Royal Family weddings that we've had, all combined in one," Will Geddes, international security specialist and managing director of the International Corporate Protection Group in London, told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Thursday.
POLICE AND MILITARY
The main plans for the Queen's death are outlined in a plan code-named Operation London Bridge.
Another set of protocols code-named Operation Unicorn came into effect because the Queen died in Scotland, specifically at her private residence Balmoral Castle. The code names Feather and Marquee also are being used in reference to the management of the Queen's lying in state at Westminster Hall.
"This has been worked on almost on a daily basis for the last four or five decades," royal security expert Ken Wharfe, a former bodyguard to Princes William and Harry and personal protection officer to their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, told CTV's Your Morning on Thursday. "So that gives you some idea of this wasn't just something picked out of a box."
Wharfe said from a policing perspective, the cost of security, including for the Royal Family, is always a "prime issue."
"But on something like this, there can be no cost put on protection because the risks are so great, and I think the government understands that, I think the vast majority of people understand that," he said.
The experts CTVNews.ca spoke to describe the security presence as being a combination of uniformed police, military and private security, more discrete elements such as snipers on rooftops, specialists involved in bomb disposal and military aircraft on standby, and covert units such as plainclothes officers.
"The whole aim behind the security is that the security is as discrete as possible," Philip Ingram, a former colonel with British Military Intelligence, told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Thursday.
"It blends in with the whole event and isn't something that will detract from the people being able to access the overall atmosphere and get as close as they possibly can to the parade and everything else that's going on."
He said other agencies involved in the ongoing operations would likely include the U.K.'s domestic and foreign intelligence services MI5 and MI6, Government Communications Headquarters, National Crime Agency, counterterrorism police, liaisons from the private sector and leaders overseas, and intelligence gathered from international partners such as the Five Eyes network, of which Canada is a member.
Along with the Metropolitan Police Service and officers from other forces in the U.K., Geddes added that there are 1,500 military personnel providing additional security, with various special forces operators likely among them who will look for potential emerging threats and can be deployed swiftly, if need be, should one materialize.
On top of that, security personnel will have access to surveillance tools such as London's extensive network of CCTV cameras, as well as technology and people specialized in facial recognition – the latter sometimes referred to as "super recognizers."
But unlike what is shown in the movies, the security experts CTVNews.ca spoke to said the city's CCTV network is not all centrally connected, with many cameras owned by private businesses or homeowners and managed on independent servers.
WHAT ARE THE RISKS?
Not only are the events surrounding the Queen's funeral being held in a relatively small area, they have also been widely publicized, with the sheer number of people expected to attend presenting a broad spectrum of risks, the experts said.
Geddes pointed to the potential threat of Islamic and far-right extremism, while Ingram said so-called lone wolf terrorists could be motivated to act and, on a smaller level, scammers targeting tourists.
Both cited groups such as Extinction Rebellion who may want to interrupt the proceedings to promote their causes, as well as discontent among anti-monarchists.
Certain nation-states also may want to disrupt the funeral, Ingram said, given the discontent from some countries over global events such as the war in Ukraine or conflicts in the South China Sea.
"There are countries that could potentially be interested or would be more content if it didn't go as smoothly as one would hope," Ingram said.
Over the coming days, Ingram said he will watch for whether the U.K.'s national threat level changes.
The threat level was downgraded to "substantial" in February, meaning an attack is "likely."
"If that goes up, it's something that is announced publicly and that will bring an awful lot more resources into play," he said. "But if that goes up, with the world leaders coming in, that's when I start to get concerned."
Official documents obtained by Politico and reported on by other news outlets show that foreign heads of state and their spouses have been asked to arrive in the U.K. on commercial flights if possible, to not use helicopters to get around and to attend the funeral by bus.
Geddes said this would not be the first time that mini-buses are used for an event, pointing to Harry and Meghan's wedding, and to help control the routes of various entourages.
And while there is also a limited amount of runway available for the amount of air traffic expected, Geddes described the guidance around commercial flying as a "woke nod" to those who may be more environmentally conscious and expects most heads of state to fly privately.
With files from CTV News and The Associated Press
