Strategic Defence and Security Review Public Engagement

The Government website has announced:

"The Cabinet Office, Department for International Development, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Home Office, Ministry of Defence as well as other departments are working together on the NSS and SDSR. This review will look at the full range of threats that we face; it will examine the capabilities we need to counter them; and help us judge how to resource those capabilities.

As part of this work, we are engaging with a range of audiences, including Parliament, academics, industry, think tanks, Allies and partners, non-governmental organisations and the public. This is why we have developed an online form giving members of the public the opportunity to contribute ideas and suggestions on defence and security matters which will be used to inform the work we are doing."

With some time on my hands, and starting from the fundamental that defence of the UK is the first duty of our Government, I thought I would compose a short piece highlighting the now obvious errors of SDSR 2010 and suggesting, taking account of the darkening strategic situation, these deficiencies might be addressed. 

Imagine my surprise to find that "the opportunity to contribute ideas and suggestions on defence and security matters which will be used to inform the work we are doing," is limited to just 1500 characters (about 300 words, I understand, or a couple of Tweets).

Now, during my time at Staff College, polishing my Service Writing skills, the importance of brevity was stressed but 300 words, even from armchair-airmen like me, is a bit of a challenge!

It is particularly galling since the Secretary of State for Defence has said:

"This is a strategic defence review, not a Treasury-led review, a review across the whole of government to assess the threats to the country and the future threats that may emerge to our country, the capabilities needed to address those threats and, of course, the resources we need to finance those capabilities."

Sadly, given the insulting opportunity for public consultation, I think we can draw our own conclusion about the SDSR terms of reference and Treasury intentions!