Homeland Security Watch

The new coalition government’s National Security Strategy is now available to the public.  You can download the pdf at http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/topstorynews/2010/10/national-security-strategy-55815

According to The Guardian, ”Theresa May, the home secretary, warned today that cyber warfare is a “growing threat” to Britain, alongside international terrorism. May outlined the top-priority threats facing the country as a significant rise in resources devoted to cyber warfare, intelligence-gathering and special forces is due to be confirmed in a national security strategy document…”

The Telegraph reports, ”The other major threats are a large scale accident or natural hazard such as pandemic flu and an international military crisis which could draw in the UK and its allies.”

Many have critiqued the new British Strategy as having been more a cost-cutting exercise than a truly strategic review.

The UK has been emphasizing resilience for much longer — and with much more sophistication — than we have in the United States.  This emphasis continues.  From page 25 of the new strategy:

But we cannot prevent every risk as they are inherently unpredictable.  To ensure we are able to recover quickly when risks turn into actual damage to our interests, we have to promote resilience, both locally and nationally. Ensuring that the public is fully informed of the risks we face is a critical part of this approach.   To support national and local resilience, we will continue to publish a National Risk Register which sets out the more immediate risks of civil emergencies occurring in the UK.

More information on the UK’s National Risk Register and related efforts is available from the Cabinet Office.