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MI5 in 2004 and then MI6 in 2005 launched new recruitment websites, declaring that they were "particularly interested to hear from individuals from ethnic minority groups". The list on MI5's website is dominated by ethnic minorities that are overwhelmingly Muslim.
At one point in Britz, Sohail is asked if he feels ok with the fact that the majority of families under surveillance are Muslim.
Horne: "If I told you most of the families we have currently under surveillance were Muslim, would that trouble you?"
Sohail: "No. Not if the intelligence which identified them was sound. More sound than at Forrest Gate, for example".
This raises the question: how reliable is the intelligence? Is it driven by an understanding of the variety of politics and attitudes within the country’s diverse Muslim communities? Or is it driven by stereotyping that sees every angry young man who happens to be from a Muslim background as a potential or even actual terrorist recruit?
There is evidence that the new recruitment approach is working. The Guardian reported that in 2004, 13% of new recruits were from an ethnic minority. According to a Whitehall official quoted in The Telegraph in late 2005, the number of people applying had increased by more than 150% since 7/7, and these included a "significant proportion" from the Asian and Muslim communities.
