Defence Select Committee SDSR inquiry near completion

The questions the Committee reportedly examined are:

What are the credible threats to the UK and its interests posed by:

• International terrorism;
• A surge in serious, organised crime such as to have direct economic/social consequences;
• Hostile attacks upon UK cyber space;
• An international military crisis between states;
• An attack using chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) weapons;
• Risk of major instability, insurgency or civil war overseas;
• Severe disruption to information received, transmitted or collected by satellites, possibly as the result of a deliberate attack by another state;
• A large scale conventional military attack on the UK;
• A conventional attack by a state on another NATO or EU member; and,
• An attack on a UK overseas territory?

What are the credible threats to the UK and its interests from:

• Europe;
• The Middle East;
• North Africa;
• Sub-Saharan Africa;
• The Far East; and,
• The High North?

What are the credible threats to the UK and its interests posed in:

• The maritime domain;
• The land domain; and
• The air domain?

What is the Government’s ability to evaluate credible threats to the UK and its interests?

• What is the Government’s ability to ‘think the unthinkable’ and how flexible are the UK’s thought process and planning process to meet the wide range of credible potential dangers?
• Does the Government have the ability for generic capability and capacity building in the event of an unforeseen threat?
• What contingency planning is in hand to expand our armed forces should the need arise?

Written submissions for the inquiry were submitted in large volumes. The deadline for submissions was Wednesday the 7th of October 2015.