A Question of Security

The publication of the British government's Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) in October 2010 provoked widespread and lively public debate. The review was long overdue: the world has changed dramatically since the last review in the 1990s, and its assumptions did not account for the increased and prolonged challenges faced by the armed forces in a post-9/11 world. At the same time, the financial crisis had also rendered the defence programme unsustainable.

Written by the foremost independent security and defence experts in the field, including Michael Clarke. Hew Strachan and Malcolm Chambers, this vital new book analyses every important facet of the 2010 review and the fundamental questions and tough choices that are still to be resolved. It examines the impact of the spending cuts: the decisions on the military equipment that should be procured: the industrial implications of defence procurement decision: the relationships with allies and partners: the intelligence sources: and, not least, the moral and ethical dimensions of modern security policy in a globalised but disordered world.

A Question of Security sets the core agenda for all wishing to understand the defence problems Britain now faces and also for those in government and parliament who will have to continue to answer these difficult questions in a generational moment for UK defence policy.

`It is now commonly accepted that we have a significant challenge across the Nation's security and defence portfolio ... Against this backdrop this book is timely and pertinent; the questions it asks and the articles that debate the key issues are comprehensive and thought provoking. A valuable reference for the informed and interested.' -General Sir David Richards

The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) is the leading independent think tank on international defence and security issues in the UK.