Citation[]
U.K. Cabinet Office, A Strong Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The National Security Strategy (NSS) (Oct. 2010) (full-text).
Overview[]
This publication outlines the U.K.'s reappraisal of Britain's role in the world, the risks to its security and the implications for the U.K. The Strategy (NSS) sets out the U.K. government's strategic choices on how to ensure the security of the country and how the U.S. government need the structures in place to allow it to react quickly and effectively to new and evolving threats.
The NSS, which has been coordinated and developed by the Cabinet Office, undertakes strategic thinking on national security issues in support of the U.K. National Security Council, sets out two high-level objectives which will guide the strategic approach overall:
- to ensure a secure and resilient U.K. by protecting the people, economy, infrastructure, territory and ways of life from all major risks that can affect the U.K. directly; and
- to shape a stable world by acting to reduce the likelihood of risks affecting the U.K. or British interests overseas, and applying our instruments of power and influence to shape the global environment.
The NSS decides our priorities for action, and identifies 15 priority security risks to the U.K.. The following Tier 1 risks are judged to be our highest priorities for U.K. national security:
- terrorism;
- cyber attack;
- major natural hazards and accidents; and
- international military crises.