Official title: Action taken by the security forces to tackle loyalist terrorism
What this chapter covers
Chapter 5 is a short chapter that looks at the priority the security forces gave to loyalist paramilitary violence compared with republican violence in the period before the murder, and at the operations that were directed against loyalist groups.
Key points
The chapter forms part of the context for de Silva's later findings that intelligence about planned loyalist attacks often was not acted on. It also touches on wider matters raised in the review's evidence, including Security Service propaganda work aimed at republicans (examined in chapter 15) and allegations about loyalist arms shipments in the 1980s.
On the arms question, critics of the report, including the authors of a Statewatch analysis, have disputed some of its conclusions about whether Army agents were involved in loyalist arms importation. Readers should look at the chapter and those critiques together.
Why it matters
The chapter matters for its framing: the review's question was not only what individuals did, but whether loyalist violence was treated as a lower priority, and what that meant for people the loyalists targeted.