National Security and Resilience

The Key Issues

The current heightened threat of terrorist attack poses both challenges and opportunities for the National Security and Resilience Sector. Government has its CONTEST Counter-Terrorism and Resilience strategy. This requires a delicate balance of effort and investment for the multiple agencies and Departments of State working closely together, on the one hand forging closer links to deliver results, while on the other hand maintaining a coherent and disciplined approach in a complex multi-agency environment. For industry there is the opportunity to invest and develop ever more intelligent technological solutions to support the Government’s strategy together with the challenge of finding the appropriate market and customers.

The CONTEST strategy and the general resilience agenda present additional opportunities and challenges including:

• How to decide what information to make available to the public to raise awareness of the threat without creating undue alarm
• What organisational structures, skills and competences to develop and deploy to meet the current threats whilst ensuring sustainability for the future
• How to keep policy and strategy alive and fresh over long periods
• How to make best use of scarce Government investment in R&D, whether in civilian or military environments, to deliver technologies to mitigate increased risk of terrorist attack
• How to develop better ways of working between Government and industry that increase flexibility and pace, promote innovation but do not become unaffordable
• How to ensure the UK remains an attractive place to do business for defence and security related technology companies
• How to continue to work collaboratively to reduce the threat to UK interests, both at home and abroad