Updated Aug. 29, 2014 4:50 p.m. ET
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron: 'We need to do more to stop people traveling, to stop those who do go from returning, and to deal decisively with those who are already here' Reuters
LONDON—The U.K. government will introduce legislation to make it easier to seize people's passports to counter the security threat posed by Islamist extremists traveling to and from conflict areas like Syria and Iraq, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday.
"It is becoming clear that there are some gaps in our armory and we need to strengthen them. We need to do more to stop people traveling, to stop those who do go from returning and to deal decisively with those who are already here," he said at a news conference. "I'll be making a statement in the House of Commons [parliament] on Monday."
Mr. Cameron made the announcement shortly after the government said its security services had raised the assessment of the threat from international terrorism to "severe" from "substantial," the second-highest level on its five-point scale, as a result of the rise of the Islamist militancy in Syria and Iraq.
The change reflects the assessment that an attack is highly likely but that there isn't intelligence to suggest a terror strike is imminent, Home Secretary Theresa May said. The highest threat level, which is determined by the government's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, is "critical." The last time the threat level was raised to severe was in January 2010 following an attempt to detonate a bomb on a U.S. passenger plane over Detroit. It remained at that level until July 2011 when it was lowered one notch.
The White House said it doesn't plan to change the terror threat level in the U.S. in response to heightened British measures.
"As it relates to the United States' national terror alert system, I don't anticipate at this point that there are—that there's a plan to change that level," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday.
The U.S. is devoting significant resources to mitigate the threat posed by foreign fighters with Western passports and is working closely with the British and other partners to monitor those who might try to return to carry out terrorist attacks, Mr. Earnest said.
Mr. Earnest declined to compare the threat posed to the U.S. with that posed to Britain, but said there are fewer Americans believed to be fighting with Islamic militants in Syria.
"Part of the British concern is that there is, according to published reports, a relatively large number of individuals with British passports who have gone to the region to fight alongside ISIL," he said. "The published reports, as they related to the number of Americans who are there," are somewhat lower, he said.
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron speaks about the Islamic State's execution of U.S. journalist James Foley and "what seems to be" the voice of a British terrorist in the execution video.
Mr. Cameron also has sent four proposals for tackling the extremist threat to European Union leaders to inform a discussion on the issue at their summit in Brussels on Saturday. The U.K. has suggested discussing greater sharing of passenger details to stop Europeans going to fight in Iraq and Syria; sharing best practices on tackling radicalization; improving security at airports and increasing coordination of humanitarian relief.
The British leader said the threat to U.K. security posed by the extremist group fighting in Syria and Iraq and calling itself Islamic State, which is also known by the acronyms ISIS and ISIL, was deeper and stronger than it has been before.
"With ISIL, we are facing a terrorist organization not being hosted in a country but actually seeking to establish and then violently expand its own terrorist state," he said. "We are in the middle of a generational struggle against a poisonous and extremist ideology that I believe we will be fighting for years and probably decades."
"There's no doubt in my mind that ISIL is targeting all of us in Europe," he said.
The British government has ruled out committing combat troops to Iraq and hasn't taken part in airstrikes with the U.S., although Mr. Cameron said Britain supported them. The U.K. has stuck to a strategy of putting pressure on Islamic State by supporting an inclusive Iraqi government, helping make sure the Kurds get arms to fight extremists, gathering intelligence and delivering aid to those that need it.
The release of a video last week showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley by a masked man apparently speaking in a British accent has fueled concerns about Britons being drawn into the conflict in Syria and Iraq and the risk they might return home radicalized, battle-hardened and intent on carrying out attacks on U.K. soil.
The British government already has powers to seize the U.K. passports of citizens it believes want to travel abroad to engage in terror. Mrs. May said in a newspaper article last weekend that 23 people who were planning to travel to Syria had their passports withdrawn.
For people with dual nationality, the government also has the power to strip them of their citizenship and exclude them from the country. In certain circumstances, it can remove citizenship from naturalized Britons who are fighting overseas and exclude them too, she said.
The government estimates at least 500 British citizens have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight in the conflict there with a range of organizations, including Islamic State, which aims to form an Islamic caliphate in the region.
Mrs. May said last week that this year alone, 69 people have been arrested for offenses relating to terrorism in Syria, including 12 that have been charged and four that have been successfully prosecuted.
Mr. Cameron said Britons should go about their daily lives in the normal way following the change in the terror threat level, a decision he stressed was made and announced independently of government.
"The purpose of moving the threat level is that it does trigger a series of actions by the police and, indeed, by others in other parts of life, to make sure they put in place all the extra security that they can. So you might see some changes in terms of policing and the numbers of armed police," he said.
National Policing Lead for Counter-Terrorism, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, urged the British public to remain vigilant. "From this afternoon we will begin to increase our levels of visible patrols and implement other security and protection measures. We will also build on existing community relations to provide reassurance and seek their support and assistance in keeping the U.K. safe," he said.
Write to Nicholas Winning at nick.winning@wsj.com
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