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National security

National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military attack, national security is widely understood to include also non-military dimensions, such as the security from terrorism, minimization of crime, economic security, energy security, environmental security, food security, and cyber-security. Similarly, national security risks include, in addition to the actions of other nation states, action by violent non-state actors, by narcotic cartels, organized crime, by multinational corporations, and also the effects of natural disasters.

"National defense" redirects here. For other uses, see National defense (disambiguation).

Governments rely on a range of measures, including political, economic, and military power, as well as diplomacy, to safeguard the security of a nation state. They may also act to build the conditions of security regionally and internationally by reducing transnational causes of insecurity, such as climate change, economic inequality, political exclusion, and nuclear proliferation.

"A nation has security when it does not have to sacrifice its legitimate interests to avoid war, and is able, if challenged, to maintain them by war." (, 1943).[3]: 5 

Walter Lippmann

"The distinctive meaning of national security means freedom from foreign dictation." (, 1950)[3]: 79 

Harold Lasswell

"National security objectively means the absence of threats to acquired values and subjectively, the absence of fear that such values will be attacked." (, 1960)[4]

Arnold Wolfers

"National security then is the ability to preserve the nation's physical integrity and territory; to maintain its economic relations with the rest of the world on reasonable terms; to preserve its nature, institution, and governance from disruption from outside; and to control its borders." (, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 1977–1981)[5]

Harold Brown

"National security... is best described as a capacity to control those domestic and foreign conditions that the public opinion of a given community believes necessary to enjoy its own self-determination or autonomy, prosperity, and wellbeing." (, 1990)[6]

Charles Maier

"National security is an appropriate and aggressive blend of political resilience and maturity, human resources, economic structure and capacity, technological competence, industrial base and availability of natural resources and finally the military might." (, 1996)[7]

National Defence College of India

"[National security is the] measurable state of the capability of a nation to overcome the multi-dimensional threats to the apparent well-being of its people and its survival as a nation-state at any given time, by balancing all instruments of state policy through governance... and is extendable to global security by variables external to it." (, 2008)[2]: 52–54 

Prabhakaran Paleri

The concept of national security remains ambiguous, having evolved from simpler definitions which emphasised freedom from military threat and from political coercion.[1]: 1–6 [2]: 52–54  Among the many definitions proposed to date are the following, which show how the concept has evolved to encompass non-military concerns:

: person or groups deliberately targeting critical infrastructure for political gain. In the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Mumbai central station and hospital were deliberately targeted.

Terrorism

: person or groups such as ex-employees, anti-government groups, environmental groups. Refer to Bangkok's International Airport Seized by Protestors.

Sabotage

: private person hacking for private gain or countries initiating attacks to glean information and damage a country's cyberinfrastructure. Cyberattacks on Estonia and cyberattacks during the 2008 South Ossetia war are examples.

Information warfare

: hurricane or other natural events that damage critical infrastructures such as oil pipelines, water, and power grids. See Hurricane Ike and Economic effects of Hurricane Katrina for examples.

Natural disaster

Issues[edit]

Consistency of approach[edit]

The dimensions of national security outlined above are frequently in tension with one another. For example:

By region[edit]

Argentina and Brazil[edit]

National security ideology as taught by the US Army School of the Americas to military personnel was vital in causing the military coup of 1964 in Brazil and the 1976 one in Argentina. The military dictatorships were installed on the claim by the military that Leftists were an existential threat to the national interests.[40]

Deep state

Fourth branch of government

Homeland security

Human security

International security

Military–industrial complex

Security

National interest

National economic security

. Power and Principle: Memoirs of the National Security Adviser, 1977–1981. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1983.

Brzezinski, Zbigniew

Cordesman, Anthony H. . Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger Security International, 2009.

Saudi Arabia: National Security in a Troubled Region

Devanny, Joe, and Josh Harris, . London: Institute for Government/King's College London, 2014.

The National Security Council: national security at the centre of government

Jordan, Amos A., William J. Taylor, , and Suzanne C. Nielsen. American National Security. Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

Michael J. Mazarr

MccGwire, Michael. . Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1991. ISBN 978-0815755531

Perestroika and Soviet National Security

Mueller, Karl P. . Santa Monica, CA: RAND Project Air Force, 2006.

Striking First: Preemptive and Preventive Attack in U.S. National Security Policy

National Research Council (U.S.). . Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2009.

Beyond "Fortress America": National Security Controls on Science and Technology in a Globalized World

Neal, Andrew. Security in a Small Nation: Scotland, Democracy, Politics. Open Book Publishers, 2017.  9781783742707

ISBN

Rothkopf, David J. . New York: PublicAffairs, 2005.

Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power

Tal, Israel. . Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2000.

National Security: The Israeli Experience

Tan, Andrew. Malaysia's security perspectives. Canberra : Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, , 2002.

Australian National University

at the Internet Archive

National Security Internet Archive (NSIA)