SITC - Security Innovation & Technology Consortium
Conservative National Security Green Paper
With the new Consevative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government in place in the UK, the Conservative's recently published Green Paper 'A Resilient Nation' gives clues to future security policy.
As anticipated, Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones has taken up a non-cabinet post as the new Security Minister, presiding over a newly created National Security Council.
The Green Paper (attached below), which was published in January 2010, sets out plans for a new, integrated approach to national security, with major changes including:
- A liberal Conservative attitude to foreign policy which champions an enlightened vision of the national interest;
- Reducing the need for military intervention by building a capacity for preventative action, including a greater role for diplomacy led by the FCO and for contributions from a wider range of government departments;
- A more integrated approach to post-conflict reconstruction - with a new Stabilisation and Reconstruction Force;
- A new focus on key parts of domestic security which have been ignored to date, such as border security;
- A more structured military contribution to homeland security;
- Much greater emphasis on the resilience of the country's critical infrastructure; and
- A new concern with ensuring that security legislation does not compromise civil liberties, and with strengthening social cohesion.
The proposals for increasing the resilience of critical infrastructure include a programme of systematic mapping and modelling encompassing:
- International supply chains, particularly when from or transiting through high risk and unstable areas;
- The location and physical state of UK critical national infrastructure;
- The interdependencies, capacity and redundancy of essential sectors to withstand and respond to extreme events and long-term trends (e.g. socio-demographic);
- Regulatory arrangements in each sector;
- Vulnerabilities of key installations and protections in place;
- Foreign ownership of critical assets; and
- Relevant computer networks and space based technologies essential to normal functioning.
This modelling would provide a risk assessed basis for upgrades and improvements in standards and procedures,
Security of supply of basic commodities, essential services and energy are key areas of focus, as well as a shake up the UK's fragmented cybersecurity infrastructure including the creation of a new Cyber Threat and Assessment Centre (CTAC).