National Security – Archive Article
December 8, 2008

FIRST BROADCAST ON FRIDAY JULY 2 1999 ON RADIO 2GB’S “BRIAN WILSHIRE PROGRAMME” AT 9 PM, AND ON JULY 4 1999 ON “SUNDAY NIGHT LIVE” AT 10.30 PM.

There is more to national security than simply the maintenance of defence forces. Australia may be able to learn a lesson here from the Philippines.

Last Thursday I was a panellist at an Open Forum arranged by the University of Sydney’s Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific and the National Defence College of the Philippines, for very senior personnel from the Philippines.

The National Defence College publishes the National Security Review and the current edition has an very stimulating article by Alexander Aguirre, the country’s National Security Adviser and Director-General of the National Security Council.

Mr Aguirre, writing in his personal capacity, argues that the world is heading into a new era. There is a decline in the use of military power and territorial expansion as primary instruments of statecraft and international behaviour. The article was written before the Kosovo conflict but this observation certainly applies to the problems that NATO had in Kosovo – and it continues to have.

Mr Aguirre recommends that we re-think the meaning of “national security”. We should no longer think of national security just in terms of having military forces to defend the country against an external attack.

Instead, “national security” should be based on the following seven factors. First, the country’s territorial integrity has, of course, to be maintained. This includes the exclusive economic zone at sea – Australia has one of the biggest in the world.

Second, an ecological balance has to be maintained. In other words, “sustainable development” is a national security matter.

Third, there has to be socio-political stability: a basic harmony between the divergent groups of people in the country.

Fourth, there has to be national economic security. This is not just a matter of the economy overall doing well – which is Australia’s case at present – but also that the ordinary person is also doing well. A high level of poverty and unemployment erodes national security.

Fifth, there has to be cultural cohesiveness. This does not mean cultural uniformity, with one bland veneer covering the country. Instead, the people need to have a common set of values and beliefs grounded on high moral standards handed down by their forebears and embodying a strong association to the national community and national identity, despite religious and ethnic differences.

Sixth, there has to be a moral-spiritual consensus: people need to agree on the wisdom and righteousness of the national vision. (In Australia, by contrast, hardly any politician at all mentions “national vision” – everything is just left to the “market”).

Finally, there has to be external peace: the country needs to enjoy cordial relations with its neighbours, free from aggression.

This is certainly a novel approach to “national security”. Australia can learn a great deal from this approach.