Because Italy needs a National Security Council

27 November 20212 years ago babelfish

To effectively defend the state from multi-dimensional threats and vulnerabilities, a National Security Council should be established. The analysis by Francesco D'Arrigo, director of the Italian Institute for Strategic Studies

The global pandemic from Covid-19 has presented new strategic challenges in the political, military, economic, social, infrastructural, information and intelligence spheres for all states, putting a strain on national security systems and forcing governments to take decisions and difficult compromises. The first actions taken by nations taken by surprise by the spread of the virus were the belated closure of borders, the implementation of lockdowns and suspension of democracy in the Chinese style, which did not stop the spread of the virus, but severely limited the freedom of citizens and had very heavy social and economic consequences.

On April 29, 2020, US President Donald Trump initiated "Operation Warp Speed" (OWS), a public-private partnership set up to facilitate and accelerate the development, production and distribution of vaccines, therapies and systems diagnostics to combat Covid-19.

The program guaranteed the US mass production of more vaccines and types of vaccine technologies, allowing for faster distribution of the latter. The plan also provided that some of these vaccines would not prove safe or effective, but ensured the availability of three safe and effective vaccines in record time to citizens around the world and a return to a "new" normalcy.

Operation Warp Speed, initially funded with approximately $ 10 billion under the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economy Security) approved by the United States Congress on March 27, was an innovative program involving members of the Department of Health and human services, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), private companies and other federal agencies including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy and the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense.

Covid-19 had already hit communities globally and the involvement of the Defense Department shows that US analysts had already sensed that this health crisis would also turn into a global security crisis.

And internal security is directly linked to and influenced by international security.

It is now clear that the implications of the impact of the pandemic and their consequences represent a threat to national security, which in order to be adequately addressed by governments, regardless of the constitutional system that elects them and legitimizes them, must be flexible, agile and innovative – all challenging attributes and certainly not present in a bureaucratic public sector like the Italian one.

But what is meant by national security? Sir David Omand (former Director of the intelligence agency GCHQ) defines it as “the confidence of the citizen that the risks of everyday life, both man-made threats and impersonal dangers, are adequately addressed in such a way that can lead a normal life ".

National security can be put at risk not only by intentional human actions (security) but also by natural and / or accidental events (safety).

National security represents the protection of the Republic from all dangers and threats coming from both inside and outside the country, the protection of the vital interests of the State, which are expressed in: territorial security, economic security, health security, ecological security, cyber security, physical security and socio-political stability and include, by express definition, both "security" and "safety" aspects.

Defining an issue as a threat to national security means giving it vital importance to the state, such as to authorize the use of exceptional processes, tools and decisions. Richard Ullman describes the threat to national security as “an action or a sequence of events that:“ drastically threatens and, in the short term, reduces the quality of life of the inhabitants of a state; or threatens significantly to restrict the range of options available to a government or private and non-governmental entities (people, groups, corporations) within the state ”.

The pandemic context such as the one we are facing affects multiple aspects of the national interest, and clear facts and communications can save lives and are essential for maintaining public safety and upholding the shared values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law.

Disinformation such as the deliberate creation and dissemination of false and / or manipulated information with the intent of deceiving and misleading public opinion represent the attempt by some powers and organizations, state and non-state, to aggravate divisions within States and between nations and to undermine people's trust in their governments.

With the introduction of the EU digital Covid Certificate , improperly called the green pass by Italian journalists, protests, including violent and critical protests, began by thousands of citizens and organizations that argue that it is a strategy to mask the vaccination obligation. against Covid-19 by re-emerging anti-vaccinism, which in 2019 was included by the World Health Organization (WHO) among the ten most serious threats to public health.

The intensification of disinformation campaigns, increasingly violent protests and the increase in contagions that this new wave is causing throughout Europe require Italy to promote indispensable coordination with allies and partners, to undertake common initiatives to counter this. fast-moving crisis on our borders. It is essential that the government frames the situation not only from a health point of view but as a serious threat to national security, developing a strategy and communication that allows institutions, civil society and the private sector to work together and coordinated by the national government. to avoid new lockdowns, ensure the exit from the crisis, the resilience in our society and the relaunch of the country's economy.

In this information war, the Public Radio and Television Service and the activities of Rai assume a functional and significant centrality in the context of protecting the national interest.

In addition to the health issue, the growing contagions, it must be clear to everyone that our technological, financial, scientific and industrial heritage is tempting to many, too many: adversaries and alleged friends. We are coveted, fought over by both, by those who want us as an outlet market and by those who would like to acquire our finance, our savings, and our production platforms, our airports and airlines, ports and our networks. railways, tangible and intangible infrastructures. We are the most contested reality by adversaries and friends, near and far, as consumers and as producers.

To effectively defend the State from multi-dimensional threats and vulnerabilities, a National Security Council should be established, similar to that of other democracies, equipped with effective information and decision-making tools in the environmental, health, economic, productive, educational and productive fields. , as well as military.

Only in this way will a coherent security strategy be possible to protect citizens and infrastructures against an increasingly complex crisis.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/ecco-perche-serve-un-consiglio-di-sicurezza-nazionale/ on Sat, 27 Nov 2021 07:36:10 +0000.