Foreign Policy & Security
Latest Foreign Policy & Security Publications
Undersea Cables: Indispensable, insecure
Rishi SunakWe must do more to protect the indispensable yet insecure internet infrastructure provided by undersea cables, urges Rishi Sunak MP in a new report published by Policy Exchange, Undersea Cables: Indispensable, insecure. 97% of global communications and $10 trillion in daily financial transactions are transmitted not by satellites in the skies, but by cables lying deep beneath the ocean. Undersea cables are the indispensable infrastructure of our time, essential to our modern life and digital economy, yet they are inadequately protected and highly vulnerable to attack at sea and on land, from both hostile states and terrorists.
The New Netwar: Countering Extremism Online
Dr Martyn Frampton, Dr Ali Fisher and Dr Nico PruchaNearly three quarters of the British public want the big internet companies to do more to locate and delete extremist content and believe that they are not doing enough to combat radicalisation, according to polling conducted for Policy Exchange’s latest report The New Netwar: Countering Online Extremism. Commenting on this Policy Exchange study, Home Secretary Amber Rudd noted on her Department’s official website that “We know that Daesh pose a threat online and this report helps to highlight the scale of the issue.” The report received widespread domestic and international media coverage: General David Petraeus, who wrote the report’s Foreword, appeared on the Today programme and wrote for the Times. Dr Martyn Frampton’s broadcast appearances included Good Morning Britain, BBC World Service, Radio 5 Live and LBC.
Foreign Policy and National Security in the New Parliament
John Bew and Gabriel ElefteriuIn a new report published last week, Policy Exchange stresses the vital role of Parliament in shaping debates about Britain’s place in the world, and urges the building of greater cross-party consensus on foreign policy. It stresses the role of the Defence and Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the context of a hung Parliament. The report was published alongside a new database of MPs’ voting records on key issues of national security since 2010, as well as their constituency positions on Brexit — the most detailed resource of its kind ever created. In a Foreword to the report, Tom Tugendhat MP, the new Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee said, ‘Policy Exchange is at the forefront of new thinking about national security and the UK’s place in the world’. The report was covered in The Daily Mail.
Latest Foreign Policy & Security Blogs
Ignore the straw men, the Commonwealth can still be a big part of our post-Brexit settlement
Ignore the naysayers – the Commonwealth can be a big part of the UK’s future. This is the message from Policy Exchange’s Ralph Buckle, also Director and Co-Founder of Commonwealth Exchange (CX), who argues that numerous straw men have been raised during CHOGM. On trade and co-operation, the UK has many friends outside the EU who will be eager to reinvigorate old ties.
The Good Friday Agreement is in relatively good health
20 years on from the Good Friday Agreement, Lord Bew – Emeritus Professor of Irish Politics, Queen’s University Belfast – finds the accord in relatively good health. Despite concerns generated by the UK’s decision to leave the EU, cross-party support for the Agreement has increased and there are signs that the DUP & Sinn Fein are gearing up to try to restore power sharing.
The collective action to Russia was in part a result of the UK’s firm unilateral response
Policy Exchange’s Professor John Bew, whose essay on the Skripal affair was discussed on the Today programme, argues that the UK’s initial response to Russian aggression paved the way to wider, collective action.
Latest Foreign Policy & Security News
Policy Exchange report cited in HuffPost blog on atrocities
Policy ExchangeA year on from its publication and as Holocaust Memorial Day approaches, Policy Exchange’s report The Cost of Doing Nothing: The Price of Inaction in the Face of Mass Atrocities has featured in a HuffPost blog considering whether, and how, the UK should improve its record of interventions overseas.
North Korea – Is there a military option?
Policy ExchangeLeading South Korean General I-B Chun – former head of Korea’s Special Warfare Command – considered whether there is a military solution to the North Korean threat in an event at Policy Exchange. Chun warned that the North’s nuclear capability is not only directed at the United States; that we should all be worried about their cyber capability, indoctrination of children, that China would prefer a nuclear North Korea to a US-influenced state on its border. But he added: “I truly believe that my system of democracy, freedom, respect for human rights is far more powerful than any North Korean nuclear weapon.”
Chief of Defence Staff echoes Policy Exchange warning on undersea cables
Policy ExchangeThe Chief of the UK Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, has echoed Policy Exchange’s warnings about potential threats to the undersea communications cables that are vital to the internet and international commerce in the annual Chief of Defence Staff Lecture at the Royal United Services Institute. Sir Stuart’s comments come less than two weeks after the publication of our report Undersea Cables: Indispensable, insecure, which highlights that 97% of global communications and $10 trillion in daily financial transactions are transmitted by cables – but that those cables are highly vulnerable to attack from hostile states or terrorists.
Latest Foreign Policy & Security Events
Security Challenges to the Continent
Jan 23, 2017This event was held at Policy Exchange on 23 January and featured Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, Commander of US Army Europe
The End of the Asian Century? East-West Relations in the Age of Trump
Jan 19, 2017This event was held at Policy Exchange on 19 January, the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration — it featured Michael Auslin, one of America’s leading foreign policy experts
Australian Defence Industry and the United Kingdom
Dec 12, 2016On Monday 12 December, Hon. Christopher Pyne MP — Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry and Leader of the House of Representatives — spoke at Policy Exchange about how, ‘as the rules-based global order faces increased challenges, [our] common values and our shared commitment to defend them are only strengthened’
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RT @RupesOR @Telegraph readers - including teachers and parents - react to @Policy_Exchange report by @jowilliams293, telling of their experience of pupil disruption, how it disrupts learning and drives teachers out of the profession telegraph.co.uk/education/201…
