International Law

National Security Forum appointees - why is there no pandemic disease or biotech or financial markets or cyber security expertise ?

Back in August last year, we were puzzled by the National Risk Register, which supposedly reflects the Government's strategic planning underpinning our national security.

See: Has the National Risk Register been politically censored ?

This National Risk Register seemed to magically reduce the risk of nuclear war to zero, and decided that the risk of pandemic flu was at least as likely as that of severe weather. It did not foresee the meltdown of the banking system on its risk "horizon".

Now, almost a year after he announced it, Gordon Brown has appointed a team of experts to his National Security Forum. We wondered at the time if this would follow the United States National Security Council of advisors to the President, which has been in operation since 1947, and which has a substantial staff and budget, and a roster of hundreds of experts.

9 Mar 2009 : Column 3WS

Prime Minister
National Security Forum

The Prime Minister (Mr. Gordon Brown): On 19 March 2008, I informed the House about the United Kingdom's first National Security Strategy. In that statement I announced my intention to form a National Security Forum. I can now inform the House about the Forum, its objectives and its membership.

The list below, does not include any experts on pandemic diseases e.g. avian flu, or biotechnology and genetic engineering, or financial markets, or cyber security.

There are world class British experts available, in all of these missing areas of expertise, which present a much greater threat to our national security than Islamic, or Irish terrorism etc.

Full post as published by Spy Blog on March 10, 2009 (boomark / email).