We need a new way to talk about national security

Published date30 June 2022
For many years, this approach stood us in good stead. However, since 2016 rapid geopolitical change has rocked the tenets of foreign and security policy, beginning with Brexit, and quickly followed by former US president Donald Trump's shaking-up of the multilateral system. The UN and the WTO suddenly seemed no longer fully fit for purpose. The spectre of climate change drives dramatic developments. Then came the pandemic which exposed major vulnerabilities in global supply chains and accelerated the retreat of globalisation. The ransomware attack on the HSE in May 2021, emanating from Russia, underlined the risks cybercrime and cyber warfare pose to Ireland and to Irish business. Now, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has added a new and even more dangerous threat. Not only is great power politics back, but Russia's deployment of raw military power has returned territorial defence to the agenda for many European countries

Toxic cocktail

Russia's challenge to Europe's security has pushed Finland and Sweden to apply to join Nato, while Denmark voted earlier this month to abolish the opt-out it had from participation in EU defence efforts. Now Ireland is one of only four militarily non-aligned EU member states, alongside Austria, Cyprus, and Malta. The recent Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces illustrates how poorly prepared we would be in the event of any kind of violent aggression. We now face a toxic cocktail of these various elements which, taken together, threaten our economic and political future. How should Ireland react to these dramatic changes? How can we best protect Ireland's security and prosperity into the future?

Many countries have the practice of developing and maintaining a national security strategy to help leaders to map the threats, opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses of a country's security. Work on a national security strategy for Ireland was begun in 2019 with the launch of a public consultation. The COVID crisis intervened and slowed matters down. Perhaps now is the moment to take the issue forward.

Belgium adopted its first such strategy earlier this year. Conversing recently with one of the Belgian strategy's main authors, he told me he was proud of the final product but felt that the real benefit came from the process used to get there. Typically, when such strategies are developed, the pen is wielded by the foreign ministry under the supervision of the prime minister's office in concert with the main government...

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