Professor Dr Julian Lindley-French
In October, I had the honour of directing the Future Defence, Deterrence and Resilience Conference at Wilton Park in the UK. Under the leadership of General Lord Richards seventy leading practitioners and experts considered the vital relationship between people protection and defence-vital power projection. My full conference report Cn be downloaded at https://thealphengroup.com/
Key Takeaway
The core contention of this conference was validated: that the capacity to project legitimate coercive power is central to credible defence and deterrence but that such power can only be credible if Allied and Partner societies are demonstrably secure to friends and foes alike. The key to effective resilience and thus credible defence and deterrence is shared, well-designed, and responsive architecture built on a range of critical partnerships. These partnerships must be deeper and more planned than hitherto between NATO and the EU, between member-states and partners, but above all, between governments and civil society. There is much to relearn from civil defence during the Cold War.