Theme : national_security
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Evaluation of the National Security Strategy
Assuming – as do Government ‘Think Tank’ Demos and Sir David Omand, former security and intelligence co-ordinator at the Cabinet Office – that we’re agreed on the requirement for a suitable National Security Strategy, what should it aim to accomplish?
First, it must articulate – in the plainest possible terminology – a ‘vision’ of the current and future security environment facing the UK, and ably communicate our values in the 21st Century. The document should also develop a framework for collaboration across Government on national security policy, at the same time identifying key policy areas where departments and related agencies may be more effective at working in unison.
from : charlieedwards
11th May 2008
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Stop press: 'The public love the armed forces'
Back in September the Chief of the Army called for greater support of the British Armed forces. He said there was a social gulf between the army (which has borne the brunt of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan) and British society. Soon Ministers began to raise the issue of public support for the armed forces, and media campaigns were ratcheted up... but this hyper-activity was based on a single major flaw - the widely held but utterly false assumption that there was a lack of public support for the armed forces to begin with.
from : charlieedwards
24th April 2008
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Brown unveils national security strategy
The long-awaited strategy document follows comments last year by the think-tank Demos that the government ‘lacked a clear and coherent view’ of security risks to UK. At the time Demos’ Charlie Edwards said: "Successive British governments have rarely taken a strategic approach to national security. Decisions remain focused on short-term initiatives. Worryingly, the overall approach is becoming less – not more – coherent. Governments lurch from one crisis to the next, neither protecting people nor empowering them."
He added that the national security strategy was "a step in the right direction but its aim must be to transform our outdated and compartmentalised national security architecture. Unless we have joined-up government on national security, we will be vulnerable through the cracks."
from : charlieedwards
21st March 2008
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Brown unveils security strategy
"Rather than anything in the past which was produced - very much defence, foreign policy, a bit of Home Office, the threat to the state - we are now much more looking at the citizen and tying the citizen into this.
"Let's think of their vigilance, how does this involve them."
However, a report by think-tank Demos warned recently that the government was "lurching from one crisis to another" and leaving the country vulnerable to attack.
It said: "The forthcoming national security strategy is a step in the right direction but its aim must be to transform our outdated and compartmentalised national security architecture.
"Unless we have joined-up government of national security, we will be vulnerable through the cracks."
from : charlieedwards
19th March 2008
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Britain's Brown to publish UK's first national security strategy amid growing range of threats
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set to outline the first major overhaul of Britain's national security plans since the end of the Cold War, aiming to protect Britain from emerging threats including extreme weather, pandemic diseases, unstable energy supplies and terrorist attacks, his office said Tuesday.
from : charlieedwards
18th March 2008
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Britain ignoring key threats in dash to stop terrorists
Richard Mottram, who retired in November as Brown's chief adviser on intelligence and security, also recently warned that Britain has focused too tightly on terrorism.
Delivering a lecture in December, Mottram said risks of a global flu pandemic, the impact of mass global migration and threats from organized crime were receiving too little attention.
"The reality is that al-Qaida has made little or no progress in the pursuit of its fundamental aims," he said at London's Demos think tank.
from : charlieedwards
14th February 2008
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Winning on wicked issues
Instead of discussing the global risks to Britain, recent debate on national security has focused on the roles of government institutions rather than the problems that need to be solved. Some commentators have lamented the decline of the Foreign Office, while others have questioned the increase in spending on development aid at a time when savings have to be found in the defence budget. It is a depressing cycle of claim and counter claim which smacks of short-termism and a lack of leadership across government.
from : charlieedwards
30th January 2008
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I've seen the future
I am at a conference on National Safety & Security in The Hague. It's only just kicking off but last night participants were invited to a dinner and I managed to sit next to Peter Schwartz, the co-founder and chairman of Global Business Network and former head of scenario planning for Shell.
We were just about to dig into the main course when Peter answers a question from across the table on climate change... He pauses and says, ‘of course climate change is a major risk but there is something bigger around the corner...’. I have to wait for his presentation this afternoon to find out what.
from : charlieedwards
29th January 2008
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Forgotten in the front line
While British troops may withdraw from Basra towards the end of the year, operations in Afghanistan will continue to be a mixture of hard fought battles and limited political progress while serious questions will remain over the ability of the NATO alliance to support the reconstruction and stabilisation of the country.
from : charlieedwards
8th January 2008
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Don’t squeeze defence to pay for foreign aid, warns ex-security chief
Giving the annual Demos security lecture, Sir Richard said: “It would perhaps not be revealing a great secret to add that the rest of Whitehall, particularly in the international sphere, has looked on enviously as extra resources have been allocated to DfID in successive spending reviews and wondered if this represented the best use of scarce resources.”
from : charlieedwards
19th December 2007
