One of the very few UK focussed blogs that something sensible to say on defence and security matters is Jedibeeftrix.
They have just posted an interesting analysis of the Conservative parties ‘A Resilient Nation’ paper.
Have a look
The analysis of the Conservative’s approach to Security, Defence and Resilience been a large undertaking. It is only a high level analysis, completed in short order, hopefully readers appreciate that further analysis will be worthwhile as more information comes out of the Conservative Defence, Security and Resilience team.
The analysis is split over 10 posts
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
To summarise our opinion…
4.6 Increased attention to the resilience of critical infrastructure
The need to take a much more considered approach to the protection and long term resilience is obvious but has been severely neglected by the current government. The proposed systematic modelling of all related infrastructure and services is an idea that is well overdue but may need legislation as much of it is owned or administered by private sector and overseas organisations.
Once a thorough understanding has been obtained it will form a basis for legislation and the development of minimum national standards, again, another long overdue requirement.
Most of these industries have separate regulatory regimes and requirements so whether the standards would be developed and imposed through these or by some other resilience regulator is open for discussion.
4.4 A new emphasis on domestic security
The paper states that effective border control is the first line of defence against the entry if unwanted persons.
A long standing Conservative commitment has been the creation of a robust and unified border policing capability. The current patchwork of the UK Border Agency, parts of HM Revenue and Customs, local police forces, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and many others has created an over complex, inefficient and largely ineffectual capability that a single unified agency or force would seek to address.
The commenters and authors at Think Defence have for some time supported the notion of a much stronger Coastguard with responsibilities for maritime security, search and rescue, pollution control and fisheries management.
4.3 A more integrated approach to post-conflict reconstruction
There has been a number of well publicised ‘issues’ between the MoD, DFiD and civilian aid agencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, as the paper says ‘we need a step change’
The current arrangements of DFiD, MoD, FCO and NGN’s means that inevitably there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians and those chiefs are usually too focussed on procedure rather than outcome.
To say a more integrated approach is needed is the understatement of the decade.
4.3 A more integrated approach to post-conflict reconstruction
There has been a number of well publicised ‘issues’ between the MoD, DFiD and civilian aid agencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, as the paper says ‘we need a step change’
The current arrangements of DFiD, MoD, FCO and NGN’s means that inevitably there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians and those chiefs are usually too focussed on procedure rather than outcome.
To say a more integrated approach is needed is the understatement of the decade.
4.1 A liberal Conservative foreign policy
If we can move away from the hand wringing yoghurt knitting left winged foreign policy of the Labour government then this will be a huge step in the right direction. The UK needs to understand the concept of national interest and stop trying to swan around the world stage, being a force for good.
In fact, the whole ‘being a force for good’ thing needs to be ruthlessly expunged from all strategy documents and replaced with ‘a force for the good of the United Kingdom and its people’
However, it looks like the Conservative proposal is to have more of the same, stating that our international role is not only of self interest or seen through the prism of a commercial balance sheet
Nonsense…
4 Changes Needed
This is the substantial part of the strategy and our analysis.
The new, integrated approach to national security will, however, mean some major changes in the way we do business.
In particular, it will involve;
Probably too much for a single blog post so I will split them up
3. Some Fundamental Continuities
The new National Security Strategy, and the accompanying Strategic Defence and Security Review, will be built on certain solid foundations – most have been at the heart of bi-partisan policy over many years, including;
No surprises here and nothing to be concerned over except that we think continued defence cooperation with the EU should be on a minimal basis. That said the Conservative policy is to only continue co-operation with the European Security and Defence Policy (EDSP) if it can show that the capabilities being offered do not duplicate those available in NATO. It also pledges to strive for co-location of staff. I believe EDSP has changed its name to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CDSP) and it will be difficult to reconcile the natural eurosceptic nature of the Conservatives with the accelerating pace of EU integration post Lisbon.
2. A Unified Security Approach
To deal with the new world we need to link all the relevant parts of government…
The document strategy proposes three key new initiates, the establishment of a National Security Council, National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review.
2.1 National Security Council
This has rather a USA feel to it and be responsible for all national security policy issues, replacing a number of existing disparate ministerial committees.
The NSC will;
1. Britain’s Place in the World
Reaffirming that the United Kingdom is an open, outward facing nation of considerable influence this sections covers the issue of how we might perceive our global role. After reading the section it is hard to see what is different from any other political party and it does not actually highlight any changes or solid proposals, mostly ‘is’ and ‘are’ rather than ‘will’
1.1 The response to changing threats
Todays threats are indeed more complex but have been so since the last strategic defence review in 1998. The substantive proposal is to ‘understand what is happening and respond sensibly’
Oh, that alright then
1.2 Labours record
As might be expected this is just a list of Labours failings, not sure what place this has in a strategy paper that is forward looking but why miss the opportunity of scoring political points, even if many of the things highlighted were either exactly the same under the last Conservative government or had their roots in Conservative government policies of old. The accompanying Green Paper does omit the Labour bashing section.
1.3 Conservative Solutions
This is simply a summary of good intentions and what changes will be put in place, more detail follows in the subsequent sections.
There will be a fundamental reorganisation of the relationships between foreign and domestic policy with regards to security and resilience.
This is long overdue and should be applauded.
Released at the same time as David Cameron’ speech at Chatham House is the Conservative parties approach to national security and resilience.
Headlines include
Setting up a proper National Security Council to ensure that the Government’s preparations for and response to threats and hazards are co-ordinated.
Creating a new Permanent Military Command for Homeland Defence and Security to reinforce on our capacity to deal with emergencies in the UK.
Enhanced cyber security, including a Cyber Threat and Assessment Centre (CTAC)
As might be expected of a high level vision, David Cameron’s recent speech at Chatham House was long on strategy and short on tactics, fair enough. It has been followed up with the publication of the Conservative Party’s Defence and Security Policy documents on their web site.
http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2010/01/A_Resilient_Nation.aspx
After so many weak performances and half arrsed announcements from the Conservative defence team in the last year we were hoping for something substantive, here it is. Instead of slashing the MoD Civil Service or offering gimmicks they have come out with a serious and credible policy document.
In this series of posts we shall examine the detail and offer our usual half baked opinions!
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