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 As part of its National Security Strategy documentation, the UK government has included a breakdown of the fifteen priority threats which the country faces.
These are the results of a National Security Risk Assessment and have been broken down into three tiers, to provide an indication of the severity of the risk and the priority that it is being given:
TIER ONE (top priority)
- Hostile attacks upon UK cyber space by other states and large scale cyber crime.
- International terrorism affecting the UK or its interests; and a significant increase in terrorism related to Northern Ireland
- An international military crisis between states, drawing in the UK, its allies as well as other states and non-state actors.
- A major accident or natural hazard which requires a national response, such as severe coastal flooding affecting three or more regions of the UK or an influenza pandemic.
TIER TWO
- An attack on the UK or its Overseas Territories by another state or proxy using chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) weapons.
- Risk of major instability, insurgency or civil war overseas which creates an environment that terrorists can exploit to threaten the UK.
- A significant increase in the level of organised crime affecting the UK.
- Severe disruption to information received, transmitted or collected by satellites, possibly as the result of a deliberate attack by another state.
TIER THREE
- A large scale conventional military attack on the UK by another state (not involving the use of CBRN weapons) resulting in fatalities and damage to infrastructure within the UK.
- A significant increase in the level of terrorists, organised criminals, illegal immigrants and illicit goods trying to cross the UK border to enter the UK.
- Disruption to oil or gas supplies to the UK, or price instability, as a result of war, accident, major political upheaval or deliberate manipulation of supply by producers.
- A major release of radioactive material from a civil nuclear site within the UK which affects one or more regions.
- A conventional attack by a state on another NATO or EU member to which the UK would have to respond.
- An attack on a UK overseas territory as the result of a sovereignty dispute or a wider regional conflict.
- Short to medium term disruption to international supplies of resources (e.g. food, minerals) essential to the UK.
Read the National Security Risk Assessment document (PDF)
•Date: 20th Oct 2010 • Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: Emergency planning
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