U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defense Gavin Williamson speak at the NATO Headquarters November 8, 2017 in Brussels, Belgium. Jette Carr/Press Association. All rights reserved.Next week, the government is due to publish the conclusions of its overdue National Security Capabilities Review. Announced in July 2017, the declared purpose of the review is to examine implementation of the National Security Strategy, and “help to ensure that the UK’s investment in national security capabilities is as joined-up, effective and efficient as possible.”
Publication of the review comes in the wake of the UK’s latest national security crisis, in the form of the nerve agent attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury on March 4. Debate about the review is consequently likely to be dominated by questions about whether the UK is doing enough to address the challenges posed by Putin’s Russia.
This is a valid concern. Examples of the authoritarianism and brutality of the Russian government abound, combined with mounting concerns about its involvement in “hybrid warfare”. Even before the attack in Salisbury, a series of recent public interventions by military top brass, parliamentarians and the Secretary of State Gavin Williamson himself, have sought to reposition the security threat posed by Russia centre-stage, after years of according greater priority to “international terrorism”.
