Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron revealed the National Security Strategy (NSS) on Monday, Oct. 18. “It describes Britain’s place in the world, as an open, outward-facing nation whose political, economic, and cultural authority far exceeds our size,” he said.
Threats are divided into three tiers. Occupying the top tier are international terrorism, attacks on U.K. cyberspace, major natural accidents, such as a pandemic flu, and international military crises.
Hazards are assessed according to likelihood and impact. For example, a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) attack on the United Kingdom by a foreign state was judged to be low likelihood, but high impact.
CBRN weapon attacks, major instability, or civil war overseas, an increase in organized crime, and severe disruption of satellites as part of an external attack comprised the second tier.
Conventional military attacks (without CBRN weapons), disruption of oil and gas, attacks on a NATO, EU or U.K. overseas domains and disruption of international resources are in the third tier.
Focus on Cyberattacks
Cyberattack has become a prominent concern. William Hague, the foreign minister, said on BBC TV, “This country needs an increased capability to protect ourselves not only against cyberattacks against the government, but also on businesses and on individuals.
“Such attacks can become in the future a major threat [not only] to our economic operations ... and to our economic welfare, but also to national infrastructures such as electricity grids and so on,” he said.
An additional 500 million pounds of funding is being allocated to cyber defense, the government announced.
Defense Overseas
In a joint foreword to the NSS, Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said that the Strategic Defense and Security Review will show how they intend to ensure forces in Afghanistan have the equipment they need and to to enable Britain to retain the best and most versatile armed forces in the world.
“Our ability to meet these current and future threats depends crucially on tackling the budget deficit. Our national security depends on our economic security and vice versa,” states the National Security Strategy.
The council has overseen a full Strategic Defense and Security Review to implement this strategy, which was revealed on Tuesday, Oct. 19. It is an outline of how government will achieve its objectives and balance resources and capabilities.
Ahead of the deficit review on Oct. 20, the NSS says: “An economic deficit is also a security deficit. So at the heart of the Strategic Defence and Security Review are some tough choices to bring the defense budget back to balance. Those choices are informed by the risks, analysis, and prioritization set out in this National Security Strategy.”
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