ALLENE A.

OCON BSN1 F9-104

REFLECTION PAPER:
NATIONAL SECURITY

National security,or national defence,is the security and defence of a sovereign

state,including its citizens,economy,and institutions,which is regarded as a duty of
government.Originally conceived as protection against military attack, national
security is now widely understood to include also non-military dimension, such as the
security from terrorism, minimization of crime, economic security, environmental
security, food security, and cyber-security.Similarly, national security is also
understood to include non-military dimension, such as the security from terrorism,
minimization of crime, economic security, environmental security, food security, and
cyber-security.

Over the past decade or more many governments,especially western

governments,have taken steps to draw together a wide range of different
functions,objectives and institutions under the concept of ‘national security’.This
trend is driven by two simple ideas.First,countries and their citizens face many
diffirent types of security threats,and they all need to be taken seriously and given due
attention and priority.Second,government has many different types of policy
instruments that can be used in the most cost-effective combination to address the full
range of security challenges.These two ideas naturally lead to a third, which is that
governments should view the security threats they encounter and the responses they
make to them holistically and unite them under an overarching National Security
Strategy. We could refer to these three ideas as "the idea of national security" as a
whole.

To put it simply, national security is the preservation of the country as a whole.

Its top priority is the defense of the country and its citizens against invasion and other
external threats by maintaining an armed force and securing state secrets. In other
words, national security is crucial for every nation.