National Security: rebranding threats

Approving the National Security Strategy, Dmitry Medvedev signed the first document at such a high level to use the term “state security.”

The Strategy is to replace the Concept of National Security from the year 2000. Both documents are highly formalized, overflowing with generalizations, and so it is only really worth focusing on the reference points. In this case this means the list of threats, those things that the Russian state fears most today, i.e., the places where money and other resources will be directed.

It turns out what is listed as a threat to our state in 2009 differs from the 2000 version.

There was a special section of the 2000 concept entitled “Threats to the National Security of the Russian Federation”, which was a run-through of the full range of threats in descending order. The first asserted: “the condition of the national economy, incomplete government administrative and civil society organizational systems, the socio-political polarization of Russian society and the criminalization of social relations, growth in crime and increasing scale of terrorism, worsening international relations, all create a broad spectrum of internal and external threats to the security of the country”. It is clear that the word order here is important – essentially indicating their priorities. First the economy, then state structures and society, the mafia and so on. In the 2009 security strategy threats are not gathered together in one section, but scattered throughout the document. As a result, it is not immediately clear which threat is now seen as the most important and dangerous.

But it does contain a new section called, ominously, “State and social security.” In the 2000 document there was no mention of state security. And in point 37 the document lists what are perceived as current threats: “the main sources of threat to national security in terms of the security of the state and of society are: espionage and other activities of foreign powers’ secret services and other organizations, individuals who are intent on damaging the security of the Russian Federation; the activity of terrorist organizations, groupings and individuals, […] the activity of transnational criminal organizations, linked with the illegal transfer of narcotics and psychotropic substances, weapons, arms, and explosives; the continuing growth in crime directed at the person, property and state authority, social and economic security, and corruption”

It is worth noting that espionage and other activities carried out by the secret services and other organizations of foreign states is given pride of place here.

It is understood that we are not just talking about espionage. This kind of threat had thoroughly permeated the document since the 2000 concept of national security was approved. That text also refers to the activity of foreign espionage organizations, but it comes under the heading “military threats”. So nine years ago this threat was considered as consisting solely of espionage activity itself, and the revealing of military secrets.

In addition, it is interesting that this “other activity” is now understood as being more dangerous than terrorism, to say nothing of the criminal activity aimed against the person (or to put it more simply – killing Russian citizens). The list of threats is a lobbyists’ list. Whoever was more influential, in whichever agency, theirs is the threat that was raised in importance. Therefore, despite the separate sections on culture, healthcare and ecology in the strategy, the main beneficiary to 2020 clearly seems to remain that same structure which is responsible for tracking the activity of foreign secret services – the FSB.

Published in Ezhednevny Zhurnal 14.05.09