Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, has announced the publication of the first National Security Strategy for the United Kingdom. The strategy highlights the nature of the current and emerging security challenges and how the country is responding.

In his statement to Parliament the Prime Minister said: "While our obligation to ensure the safety of the British people and to protect the national interest is fixed and unwavering, the nature of the threats and the risks we face has changed beyond recognition and confounds all the old assumptions about national defence and international security.

"As the national security strategy makes clear, new threats demand new approaches. A radically updated and much more coordinated response is now required.”

The Strategy argues that globalisation and an increasingly interdependent world bring massive opportunities but also vulnerabilities: travel, modern communications, and increased trade can present opportunities for terrorism and transnational crime, or can increase the risk of pandemics.

The Strategy outlines various political activities which will be undertaken to attempt to reduce globalisation threats to the UK.

As well as recognising that the challenges are increasingly global and demand global solutions, the Strategy recognises that the roots of problems are often local, as are the effects, and sets out, amongst other things:

* A new Civil Protection network, replacing the old idea of civil defence, building and strengthening local capacity to respond to a range of circumstances from floods to terrorism;

* A new National Risk Register, publishing information previously held privately within government, so businesses and individuals can see at first hand the risks faced by the country, and can plan accordingly.

Copies of the strategy are available here.

•Date: 20th March 2008• Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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