Most counterterrorism operations take place below the radar. Across the western world, terror cells are busted up and networks disrupted as raids lead to arrests. They are rarely publicized beyond terse statements to the media giving the bare bones outline of the operation.

But on Friday, British counterterrorism units broke up two terrorist plots on the same day, highlighting the constant struggle of officials to keep their citizens safe.

And one UK official made the extraordinary statement that raids were being conducted "almost daily" and that authorities believed there were between 6-10,000 potential terrorists in the country.

Breitbart:

"I wanted to reassure the public that our increased activity to combat terrorism over the last two years continues,” he said. The statement came following an “extraordinary day” in which police apprehended a migrant carrying a rucksack filled with knives in Whitehall and, in a separate incident, shot a woman in a niqab in a raid to foil an “active plot” in Willesden.

“Activity continues around the clock to identify and stop these threats,” said Basu, before his shocking admission that “we are making arrests on a near daily basis”.

Mr. Basu added a tribute “to the bravery of my uniform and detective colleagues”, having previously alluded to the “horrors in London” on 22 March, when a radicalised Muslim ran down several people in Westminster before stabbing Police Constable Keith Palmer to death.

“There are constant acts of immense bravery by officers – armed and unarmed – those that the public see when our officers run towards danger, just like yesterday, but a huge amount of unseen work that the public will never know about from us and our brilliant security services.”

Meanwhile, the director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, Anthony Glees, has estimated there may be “between 6,000 and 10,000” extremists in Britain.

“About 1,000 young British Muslims have left the freedom of the UK to travel to the Middle East and become murderous foot soldiers of Islamic State,” Gleeson wrote in the Daily Mail.

“Of that large group, 400 are believed to have returned. Only a tiny fraction – fewer than ten – have ever been brought to justice for their treachery.”

To tackle the threat, Gleeson recommended the number of officers in the security services be expanded from 3,800 to 10,000, and that the “useless” Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIMs), which Theresa May introduced as home secretary, be dropped to make way for the return of Control Orders “in even tougher form”.

Every time I read an article like this I am reminded of Dick Cheney's warning after 9/11: To prevent terrorism, we have to be successful 100% of the time in stopping it, while the terrorists only have to be successful once.

Those are daunting odds, indeed. But as good as our intelligence is regarding who the potential terrorists are - and by most reports, it's very good - questions need to be asked why these so called "known wolf" terrorists who are on law enforcement's radar continue to succeed. 

There is extreme sensitivity toward targeting religious or ethnic minorities in most western countries - to the detriment of counterterrorism actions. But I think we are going to reach a point where that attitude will finally be seen as self-defeating and stronger measures will be taken in surveillance of terror suspects and preventing them from carrying out their violent attacks.

I believe that because eventually, the people are going to demand it. No one likes to be a sitting duck for the next random attack. As terrorist acts become more violent by lone attackers, the calls for authorities to do more will become more powerful than those who question the need for stronger measures.