A/HRC/41/36 Kingdom ruling by enacting policies that require officers to warn intended victims if they have intelligence of a real and immediate threat to the intended victim’s life. In fact, in 2017, the police in England and Wales issued more than 776 so-called “Osman warnings” or “threat to life” notices.38 Between 2012 and 2015, police forces throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland issued 1,948 such notices. 39 A warning to an identified victim may be issued when the officer in charge of the threat, believes that the identified victim should be made aware of the threat/risk against them … The purpose of a Warning Notice is to notify the potential victim of the existence of a threat or risk towards them and to allow the potential victim to take precautionary steps to protect themselves, or to allow the victim an opportunity to consider the protective measures proposed by the police. The Warning Notice can be for two purposes. The Threat to Life Warning Notice is to be issued where the threat is considered as being “real” and “immediate”. A Personal Safety Advice Warning Notice is to be issued where there is intelligence to suggest that the individual’s personal safety is at risk, but the threat is not “real” and “immediate”, but may involve some form of lesser violence. 40 56. With respect to intelligence agencies operating within or outside States, a particularly well-developed and public elaboration of the duty to warn is found in United States Intelligence Community Directive 191, issued in 2015 by the then Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.41 Its key features are as follows: (a) If a United States intelligence agency “acquires credible and specific information indicating an impending threat of intentional killing, serious bodily injury, or kidnapping”, that agency has a duty to warn the intended victim; (b) The duty to warn is owed to all intended victims, regardless of whether they are United States or non-United States persons. Specifically, intelligence agencies have a “requirement to warn U.S. and non-U.S. persons of impending threats of intentional killing, serious bodily injury, or kidnapping”; (c) Importantly, however, Directive 191 explicitly does not create a legal right under which citizens may sue. It states: “This Directive is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, by any party against the United States … its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.”42 57. How the duty to warn is actually implemented by intelligence agencies may only be inferred from such anecdotes, given the secrecy under which most intelligence operations are conducted, including those aimed at protecting an individual’s life. Of particular concern are the circumstances under which intelligence agencies determine that the duty to warn should not be pursued. For example, Directive 191 allows for a waiver of the duty in limited circumstances, including when: (a) the intended victim is already aware of the threat, is at risk only as a result of participation in an armed conflict or is involved in drug trafficking or violent crime; (b) any attempt to warn the intended victim would unduly endanger the personnel, sources, methods, intelligence operations or defence operations of the Government of the United States or a foreign Government with whom the United States 38 39 40 41 42 12 Jon Rogers, “What is an Osman warning, why do police issue threat to life notices and what do they tell death threat victims?”, The Sun, 3 August 2018. Louise Ridley, “Osman ‘threat to life’ letters have warned thousands of people their lives are in danger”, Huffington Post, 28 October 2015. Police Scotland, “Threats to life warnings: standard operating procedure” (2018). See www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Intelligence-Community-Directive-ICD-191duty-to-Warn.pdf. Following the execution of Mr. Khashoggi, the Knight Institute and the Committee to Protect Journalists sought documents from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of State on the implementation of the duty of United States intelligence agencies to warn. See https://knightcolumbia.org/content/knight-institute-and-committee-protect-journalists-v-cia-foiasuit-records-governments-duty.