Britain Is Preparing for Attacks on Its Soil. Critics Say It Must Move Faster.

Paul O’Neill, a senior research fellow at RUSI, said Britain’s defenses were “quite a long way behind” those of many Baltic and Nordic nations, like Finland, that have long run military service programs and trained civilians for conflict. A former Royal Air Force officer, Mr. O’Neill expressed concern about training capacity and said that a sell-off of Ministry of Defense bases and housing in the 2010s could make it difficult for Britain to quickly muster a home defense force. “It will be a long slog, I think, for the U.K. to actually really turn this into something that is meaningful,” he said.