The Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) has called in a report this morning for a still more cross-departmental approach to determining the UK’s national strategy for defence and foreign affairs. The committee says that, in the longer term, this collaboration should lead to the formation of a new agency to act as a resource for departments.

The coalition government has recently established a National Security Adviser and National Security Council, and put in place a Strategic Defence and Security Review. The committee welcomes this, saying that “the new government’s aspiration to think strategically is most welcome, but we have yet to see how this marks any significant improvement in qualitative and strategic thinking.”

PASC calls for a community of strategists to be fostered inside government and says that a joint forum and programme of education must be set up for officials by the Royal College of Defence Studies, the National School of Government and others. The committee also says that university research funding in this area must be maintained and even expanded if possible.

A capability review of national strategy “should start as soon as possible” and must report within a year, the report says. "Our processes for making strategy have become weakened and the ability of the military and the civil service to identify those people who are able to operate and think at the strategic level is poor."

“In the longer term,” it adds, “we would hope that enhanced Whitehall collaboration would lead to the development of a new agency to complement the existing arrangements.”

Foreign Secretary William Hague said of the report: “Like the Government, the Committee has identified the chronic lack of strategic thinking in Britain's foreign and security policy in recent years. We came to office determined to put this right.”

Hague added: “Under this Government there is a proper mechanism for the bringing together of strategic decisions about our security, defence, diplomacy and development, after years of ad-hoc thinking and poor decision-making.”

Written by CSW