Down the hall, a separate hearing involved an alleged plot to inflict “serious violence” on Iranian journalists working in Britain. These disparate cases underscore how Britain has become the locale for a web of foreign espionage operations. The adviser, Jonathan Hall, cannot discuss active criminal cases because of England’s strict reporting laws. “Terrorism is something that gets public attention,” Mr. Hall said, partly because of the “death and destruction and mayhem” caused by attacks. State threats, he said, were “much harder to conceptualize” for the public.
