Source · Select Committees · National Security Strategy (Joint Committee)
Recommendation 14
14
Not Addressed
The impacts of catastrophic disruption from a co-ordinated attack remain speculative, but are almost certainly...
Conclusion
The impacts of catastrophic disruption from a co-ordinated attack remain speculative, but are almost certainly highly damaging. We estimate they would include payment and supply chain failures, some degraded communications, overstretched emergency responses, and unexpected cascading issues—all at a time of crisis. We are not convinced there are currently adequate sector-by-sector assessments of reliance on subsea cables, or sufficiently detailed plans for handling cascading consequences if data rerouting stops working properly. We are pleased the Government is starting to address this, with a particular focus on the finance sector. (Conclusion, Paragraph 98)
Government Response Summary
The government's response discusses escorting ships, investing in underwater drones, and the Royal Navy's exercises, which does not address the committee's conclusion regarding the impacts of catastrophic disruption or the adequacy of sector-by-sector assessments of reliance on subsea cables.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
The Government partially agrees this recommendation. We agree that escorting ships is an important task, and needs to be prioritised against other NATO tasking, and we routinely review our rules of engagement to ensure these are relevant to respond to the threats we face. We are investing in new capabilities, such as underwater drones, to augment existing capabilities and offer a wider variety of options to respond to taskings. The ‘Atlantic Bastion’ concept, which is outlined in the Strategic Defence Review, will see a rapid growth in new capabilities, including a fleet of autonomous underwater sensors, to persistently and silently patrol the UK’s waters of interest. This will be augmented by drones, which can be used for more localised detection, and a new class of ships, optimised as a fleet of autonomy command platforms, will be introduced in the coming years. This also supports long-term growth in shipbuilding. On exercising, we partially agree. The Royal Navy already conducts routine live escorting exercises and has the capability to support a wide range of civilian vessels, including cable repair ships, in contested environments. into existing planned training.