Has the debate on the strategic defence and security review so far been asking the right questions?
Professor David Kirkpatrick, an adviser to the Defence Select Committee, thinks not, as editor Joel Shenton finds out… The Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) has been publicised extensively, although the majority of the public are only broadly aware that it might affect the number of aircraft carriers the country continues to build. Of course, the highly secretive nature of the review means that most discussion takes place as a result of leaks, and leaks tend to come out because somebody with access to the data is worried about what they’ve just read. The result is a patchwork of bellicose, one-sided arguments prompted by data from anonymous sources. This is a problem for the defence community, no corner of which is fully appraised of all the details in the review, and it has tended to drown out any subtleties in public discussions of the issues. In September, the House of Commons Defence Select Committee criticised the way the review was being conducted, saying that the “l
