Report: Ex-Brown adviser warns of exaggerated threat from al-Qaida

Britain is in danger of exaggerating the threat from al-Qaida, the former top adviser on terrorism to Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quoted on Sunday as saying.

Richard Mottram, who retired last month from his post advising on intelligence and security, said focussing too tightly on the terrorist movement risked underplaying other important threats such as climate change or a possible flu pandemic, a British newspaper reported.

"What we shouldn't do is play into al-Qaida's hands by exaggerating the extent and nature of the threat they present globally," Mottram was quoted as saying by The Observer newspaper.

"This focus is not …