CHAPTER 3: THREATS
National security threats
3.10.
National security is nowhere defined in statute. The Government set out in its 2010
National Security Strategy,5 annually updated, what it assesses to be the 15 main
risks. The highest priority risks are in summary:
(a)
terrorism, both Islamist and Northern Ireland-related;
(b)
cyber attacks by other states and large-scale cyber crime;
(c)
a major accident or natural hazard which requires a national response; and
(d)
an international military crisis between states.
The 11 other risks prioritised by the Government include the exploitation by terrorists
of instability, civil war or insurgency overseas, a significant increase in organised
crime affecting the UK, a significant increase in attempts by terrorists, organised
criminals and carriers of drugs and firearms to cross the UK border and disruption to
the supply of oil, gas or other resources.
3.11.
In a written statement introducing his latest annual report on progress with the national
security strategy, the Prime Minister highlighted the major risks and threats that
materialised in 2014:
“Islamist extremism, with most lately the emergence of ISIL, is the struggle of our
generation; and we are working closely with international partners to tackle this,
deploying UK Armed Forces to combat the emergence of this senseless, barbaric
organisation. Russia’s illegal actions in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East
have created instability and uncertainty. Tensions in East Asia have added to the
risks in that region. Sophisticated and targeted cyber attacks continue to cost the
UK economy several billion pounds per year; the dangerous and irresponsible
leaking of sensitive information by Edward Snowden has had far-reaching
consequences. The Ebola virus is wreaking immense damage in West African
nations, and posing a potentially devastating threat to others.”6
3.12.
The strategic response to many of those threats involves the use of covert
investigatory powers. In relation to some of them (terrorism, cyber attacks, organised
crime), the monitoring of electronic communications is a central and growing part of
the response.
Terrorism
3.13.
5
6
7
The terrorist threat was recently summarised in the annual report on the Government’s
CONTEST strategy.7 Reference was made to:
A Strong Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: the National Security Strategy, Cm 7953, (October 2010).
Statement HCWS159 of 18 December 2014, introducing the Annual report on the National Security
Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review, (2014).
CONTEST, the United Kingdom’s strategy for countering terrorism: Annual Report for 2014, Cm 9048,
(March 2015).
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