Flexible response? An SDSR checklist of potential threats

Background

The Committee will seek to examine the credible threats currently facing the UK and its interests, and assess the Government’s ability to evaluate these threats.

Terms of reference

The questions the Committee is particularly interested in examining are:

What are the credible threats to the UK and its interests posed by:

• International terrorism;
• A surge in serious, organised crime such as to have direct economic/social consequences;
• Hostile attacks upon UK cyber space;
• An international military crisis between states;
• An attack using chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) weapons;
• Risk of major instability, insurgency or civil war overseas;
• Severe disruption to information received, transmitted or collected by satellites, possibly as the result of a deliberate attack by another state;
• A large scale conventional military attack on the UK;
• A conventional attack by a state on another NATO or EU member; and,
• An attack on a UK overseas territory?

What are the credible threats to the UK and its interests from:

• Europe;
• The Middle East;
• North Africa;
• Sub-Saharan Africa;
• The Far East; and,
• The High North?

What are the credible threats to the UK and its interests posed in:

• The maritime domain;
• The land domain; and
• The air domain?

What is the Government’s ability to evaluate credible threats to the UK and its interests?

• What is the Government’s ability to ‘think the unthinkable’ and how flexible are the UK’s thought process and planning process to meet the wide range of credible potential dangers?
• Does the Government have the ability for generic capability and capacity building in the event of an unforeseen threat?
• What contingency planning is in hand to expand our armed forces should the need arise?

Submitting evidence

Written submissions for this inquiry should be submitted via the inquiry page on the Defence Committee website. The deadline for written submissions is Wednesday 7 October 2015.

Submissions should state clearly who the submission is from e.g. ‘Written evidence submitted by xxxx’ and be no longer than 3000 words, please contact the Committee staff if you wish to discuss this.
 
Submissions must be a self-contained memorandum in Word or Rich Text Format (not PDFs). Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference and the document should, if possible, include an executive summary.

Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, your submission becomes the property of the Committee and no public use should be made of it unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee. Please bear in mind that Committees are not able to investigate individual cases.

The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to publish the written evidence it receives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure; the Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

The personal information you supply will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 for the purposes of attributing the evidence you submit and contacting you as necessary in connection with its processing. The Clerk of the House of Commons is the data controller for the purposes of the Act.

Further information

• About Parliament: Select Committees
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