What Is Security? Everything.

Joshua Ball Last updated Jun 7, 2019

Security is an inherently contested concept, encompassing a wide

variety of scenarios, and is commonly used in reference to a range of
personal and societal activities and situations.

Security can be distinguished between day-to-day security at the

individual level (nutritional, economic, safety), security for favorable
conditions (the rule of law and due process, societal development,
political freedom), and security against adverse conditions or threats
(war and violence, crime, climate change).

The term security is used in three broad segments. The first is the
general, everyday use of the term. In this instance, security refers to
the desire for safety or protection. Second is the usage of the word for
political purposes; relating to political processes, structures, and
actions utilized to ensure a given political unit or entity is secure. The
term “security” is frequently used as a political tool to assign priority
to a given issue or perceived threat within the broader political realm.
Third, and finally, “security” can be employed as an analytical concept
to identify, define, conceptualize, explain, or forecast societal
developments such as security policy, institutions, and governance
structures.

Politically speaking, the usage of the term “security” increased

drastically in the second half of the twentieth century. Following the
allied victory that ended World War II, the United States government’s
military and intelligence institutions underwent a major restructuring.

The Advent of National Security

The National Security Act of 1947 not only created a “National

Military Establishment,” which would later become the Department of
Defense, and the Central Intelligence Agency; the Act established the
National Security Council (NSC) to serve as the primary vehicle for
coordinating national security and defense policy across multiple
government agencies.

The National Security Advisor oversees the U.S. National Security

Council. This structure would become a model for other countries; the
governments of Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan,
South Korea, Russia, Turkey, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and the
United Kingdom, to name a few, all maintain NSCs responsible for
coordinating policy and advising heads of government or state on
national security issues.

The advent of national security as a concept enabled states, and their

political leaders, to rhetorically pursue a particular security policy.
National security policy is broader than defense policy or military
policy, and it is more than merely preparing for armed conflict or
responding to security threats. National security policy encompasses
all of the above while also aiming to avoid war.
 National security includes both internal and external security, foreign
policy, economic development, and education. As former U.S.
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara put it, “security is
development.”

National security policy became a critical tool for states to protect and
further their interests within the broader international system.
International security policy, which the United Nations was
responsible for promoting, was often at odds with the national
security interests of individual member states. Thus, the UN lost much
of its influence as the world become increasingly divided between the
U.S.-led West and the Soviet Union-led East.

It was in this context that the understanding of national security as a

concept expanded from being based mainly on defense and military
issues to focusing on those matters in conjunction with diplomatic,
economic, and political issues, both domestically and internationally.
Two major geopolitical blocs competed for global influence, but
differently than great powers of the past. The UN provided a forum
for the two superpowers to engage with one another to avoid another,
likely far more destructive, global conflict.

A Shifting International Security Landscape

After the Soviet Union collapsed, the international landscape changed

fundamentally. The previously bipolar world order was restructured
under as a unipolar order. The United States, being the sole remaining
superpower, was ideally positioned as the global hegemon.

A new international security framework was required when the Cold

War ended. The previously bipolar international system became
replaced by a unipolar global order dominated by the United States.
Globally, the odds of a major war between two great powers were
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 increasingly low. From the 1990s through the first decade of the
twenty-first century, major conflicts were asymmetrical. The United
States and its allies, with or without a mandate from the UN Security
Council, employed the use of force multiple times arguing that they
were doing so on behalf of the international community.

Some actions, such as the first Gulf War and the U.S.-led invasion of
Afghanistan in 2001, enjoyed broad support from the international
community. The only time (to date) that Article 5 of the NATO charter
has been enacted was following the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. These operations were authorized by the United Nations
Security Council, which has the responsibility of acting on behalf of all
UN member states in matters of global security. The threat of
significant conflict between two sovereign states substantially
dissipated, for a time.

Security is Everything

With a return to great power competition, national security priorities

are shifting. States, rather than non-state actors like terrorist groups
or insurgencies, are the primary security threat. The idea that security
encompasses more than military and defense issues alone has
returned, particularly in light of threats posed by rising nationalism
and hostile foreign information operations. The security paradigm of
the twenty-first century has expanded to nearly every facet of human
life.

Rising nationalism is driving ontological and societal insecurity. This

trend is fueled, in part, by economic inequality and stagnation,
coupled with an influx of migrants and refugees fleeing violent
conflicts, humanitarian disasters, and economic hardship. Unless
Western societies implement substantial reforms for integrating
immigrants and refugees, existing social divisions will widen,
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 damaging the legitimacy of democratic institutions and polluting
national identities with xenophobic sentiments.

There is also growing concern over gang violence, radicalization,

transnational crime, privacy threats, and human rights violations
worldwide. These issues all impact individual or personal security, and
the widespread use of social media and other mass-communications
technologies only serve to heighten the emphasis individuals and
societies place on individual security.

Issues like climate change and pollution are also increasingly regarded
through a security lens. These issues jeopardize human security,
meaning they pose a threat to both individuals and humanity as a
species.

Finally, cyberspace presents a whole host of new security threats.

Cyber attacks not only compromise personal data and steal
information, they can cause physical destruction, as well. Critical
infrastructure like communications, power plants, water treatment
centers, and oil refineries are all vulnerable to a debilitating cyber
attack. Such an attack could disrupt operations, inflict sabotage, and
even destroy the target facility. Cyber operations can be used by state
and non-state actors to complement or augment kinetic operations to
achieve a political goal. This is exemplified by Russia’s invasion of
Eastern Ukraine.

In the twenty-first century, the concept of security is all-encompassing.

The geopolitical element of great-power competition is further
exacerbated by a transnational cyberspace, rapidly developing and
increasingly accessible technologies, alongside a global economic
system which has created complex inter-dependencies between states.
In this new order, the traditional security debate between those who
see it as a military and defense matter, and those who subscribe to the
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 broader perspective that everything is security.

In this context, national security objectives can be only be achieved

when hard power is seen as a compliment to soft power initiatives
such as reducing societal and economic inequities, providing access to
education and healthcare, and promoting intellectual and
technological innovation.
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