National Security Strategy (United Kingdom)

The National Security Strategy of the United Kingdom sets out the risks that UK faces and how the government of that day will address such risks.

The UK government's first National Security Strategy, 'The National Security Strategy of the United Kingdom: Security in an interdependent world', was released by the Cabinet Office in March 2008 under the Labour Party-led Government.

The 2008 Paper was updated in 2009, under the heading 'Security for the Next Generation'.

The UK government's second National Security Strategy was published in October 2010 under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government. It is titled "A Strong Britain in an Age of Uncertainty". It outlines threats facing the United Kingdom, and defences against these threats. It emphasises the risks posed by terrorism, cyberwarfare, international military crises, and natural disasters.

The National Security Strategy promised an "annual report of progress on implementation" of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review. The annual progress report was eventually published in December 2011 as The Strategic Defence and Security Review: First Annual Report. It focuses on the Government implementation of the SDSR, for example progress in reducing defence capabilities and bringing troops back from Germany. There is some coverage of recent events, for example the conflict Libya, work in Afghanistan and the deaths of Osama Bin Laden and Anwar Al Awlaki. It also looks at domestic issues such as the new CONTEST and Prevent strategies, and security for the Olympics. It reports on developments in the FCO network and the DFID aid programme and there is also an update on the UK’s alliances.

However the Joint Committee criticised the document for being "almost unrelentingly positive". It noted that it contains no details on areas where there have been delays or problems, even where those have been very high profile and that it contained no lessons learned, not even those already set out in other government papers.

In December 2012 the Government published the 2012 update titled Annual report on the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review. The 2012 Update was over twice as long as the 2011 version and covered a much wider range of topics than the 2011 report, including details on the NSS, the SDSR and a range of security threats and challenges facing the UK.

The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy published a press release in which the Chair of the Committee said:

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