Peter Clenott

In this report the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy finds that the National Security Strategy should address more fundamental questions about the UK's role in the world and its relationship with the USA and other allies. The Strategy also needs to be subject to a much wider public debate. The Committee says that: there is no evidence that the NSS has influenced decisions made since the Strategic Defence and Security Review; there should be an "overarching strategy", a document designed to guide government decision-making and crisis management both at home and on the international stage; the Government's assertion that there will be no reduction in the UK's influence on the world stage is wholly unrealistic in the medium to long term and the UK needs to plan for a changing, and more partnership-dependent, role in the world. The Government's unwillingness to provide the Committee with all the information it has asked for about the National Security Risk Assessment means that it is unable to give Parliament any assurances about its adequacy. The report also notes concern that the National Security Council's oversight of security issues is not sufficiently broad and strategic, given that it was deeply involved in operations in Libya and failed to discuss the national security implications of the Eurozone crisis or the possibility of Scottish independence.