National Security and Resilience: the year ahead

The New Year will be an exciting one for the RUSI Homeland Security and Resilience Department. Firstly, 2009 will see a change of name – to the National Security and Resilience Department. We feel the new title better reflects our role and research interests as we continue to expand our research portfolio.

Currently we are conducting funded research projects examining counterradicalisation in the UK and the impacts of climate change on UK, US and Chinese national security. This will feed into our extensive conference programme, which aims to provide our members and attendees with key insights and access to important national security issues from the individuals dealing with them. Highlights for the year will undoubtedly be our Critical National Infrastructure conference in April, CBRN Resilience and Response in June, UK Resilience in October, Data Assurance and Cyber Security in October and our annual Politics and Terrorism Conference. All of these will demonstrate the Department’s rapidly expanding research programmes. We will be publishing a book, due out in summer 2009, in partnership with St Andrews’ Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, analysing the failures and successes in the intelligence, military, policing, social and diplomatic struggle against terrorism, and asking ‘where do we go from here?’ You can look forward to a range of print publications coming from the Department throughout 2009 and keep track of our thinking on the key issues of the moment through our online commentary section.

The key to our success is engagement from both RUSI’s members and those with an active interest in the areas of national security and resilience. In this vein, we encourage you to contact us to discuss issues you feel are important within your professional lives, to ensure that we remain at the cutting edge of security and resilience thinking.