Recommendation 2

The Government’s resilience assessments must take greater account of the worsening security environment over the next 5–10 years. The National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence Review set out serious preparations for future crises. However, the Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms suggested that exploring the risks of a co-ordinated attack on subsea infrastructure was unhelpfully “apocalyptic”. We disagree. Focusing on fishing accidents and low-level sabotage is no longer good enough. The UK faces a strategic vulnerability in the event of hostilities. Publicly signalling tougher defensive preparations is vital, and may reduce the likelihood of adversaries mounting a sabotage effort in the first place. (Conclusion, Paragraph 37)