Monday, April 3, 2023

033 - UK has changed its security structures on 23-09-2022

PREFACE/ISSUE

If UK is the suspect of the Nordstream sabotage, and if the operation was planned at the state level, these individuals belonged to power structures at the time of the event (26 September 2022):



National Security Council

The National Security Council (NSC) is the main forum for collective discussion of the government’s objectives for national security and about how best to deliver them in the current financial climate.

A key purpose of the Council is to ensure that ministers consider national security in the round and in a strategic way. The Council is chaired by the Prime Minister.



I. The UK changed on 23/09/2022 just before the Nordstream affair its security structures

23 Sept 2022 - Truss axes national security council, sparking ‘talking-shop’ concerns

Labour says new merged foreign policy council could reduce Whitehall policy-makers’ focus on security

Liz Truss has scrapped the national security council and merged it with two Boris Johnson-era foreign policy committees in a structure that Labour warned risked diluting the government’s security focus.

Created in 2010 under the coalition, led by David Cameron and Nick Clegg, to better coordinate security policy after the disaster of the Iraq war, the NSC is now to be replaced by a broad eight-strong foreign policy and security council (FPSC).

[M: The change happened just three days before Nordstream was attacked]

 

II. The Wayback Machine internet archine:

It allows to look at the snapshot from 23/26-09-2022 - here

(there is some doc on UK gov pages but I could not locate it yet)


Foreign Policy and Security Council (FPSC)

under Prime Minister Liz Truss:



Subcommitees:

Nuclear Deterrence and Security Sub-Committee

The terms of reference of the National Deterrence and Security Sub-Committee is to consider issues relating to nuclear deterrence and security. As of 23 September 2022, its membership is as follows:

 



National Security Ministers

National Security Ministers also meet as a sub-committee due to "...the breadth and ambition of the [government's] agenda...". As of September 2022, it is unclear whether this sub-committee still exists.  This sub-committee may be chaired by the Prime Minister or they may choose to delegate chairpersonship as follows:


13 Oct 2022 - "REVISED COMMITTEE STRUCTURE AND INTERGRATED REVIEW REFRESH"

Committee Structure

The Prime Minister has made changes to the previous NSC, including renaming it the Foreign Policy and Security Council (FPSC). The Prime Minister will chair the FPSC on a monthly basis and meetings will focus on delivery and implementation of the Government’s key foreign policy and security priorities. The core members will be:

● The Prime Minister
● Deputy Prime Minister
● Chancellor of the Exchequer
● Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
● Secretary of State for the Home Department
● Secretary of State for Defence
● Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
● Attorney General
● Minister of State (Minister for Security)

 Other Ministers and officials will be invited to attend based on the agenda. 

 

III. The next UK government has again reverted to the old structure

19 October 2022 - Ukraine war: Mysterious defence secretary trip to Washington amid fears of Russian escalation

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is on a hastily-arranged visit to Washington to talk with his counterpart and White House officials about "shared security concerns" including Ukraine and Russia, a source and an official said.

The secretive, last-minute nature of the trip and a comment by a second defence minister, James Heappey - who said the conversations that Mr Wallace would be having on Tuesday were "beyond belief" - suggested particularly sensitive and serious issues would be discussed.
However, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly this morning sought to play down the significance of the trip.

 "He will be visiting his counterpart at the Pentagon and senior figures at the White House." 

"My boss, Ben Wallace, is in Washington this morning having the sort of conversations that… beyond belief really the fact we are a time when these sort of conversations are necessary." 

The defence secretary had been due to appear before a committee of MPs in London to discuss the UK, US and NATO on Tuesday but had to cancel.

19 Oct 2022 - Special Relationship goes silent

Ben Wallace, the U.K. defence secretary, made a secretive trip to Washington on Tuesday, to discuss with the Biden administration Ukrainian matters that his deputy described as “beyond belief.” 

20 Oct 2022 - Liz Truss resigns as PM and triggers fresh leadership election

1 November 2022 - Following a short change of title to Foreign Policy and Security Council,...

...the National Security Council has been re-established and meets regularly.

 

IV. About Failure to permit members of the Defence Select Committee access to UK Special Forces

1 Nov 2022 - Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that British navy personnel had blown up the Nord Stream pipelines in September.

1 Nov 2022 - Russia asks UK's ex-premier about explosions at Nord Stream pipelines

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Tuesday urged the former UK prime minister to explain her message allegedly sent to the US secretary of state right after the accident at Nord Stream gas pipelines at the Baltic Sea.

"Honestly, I don't care who and how (they) got this information. I am interested in London's response to the following question: Did Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss send a message to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken right after the explosion at Nord Stream gas pipeline with the words 'it's done?'," Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

Zakharova added that "millions of people all over the world are waiting for an answer to this question," stressing that they "have the right to know what happened to the global energy security and what is the role of Anglo-Saxons in the committed terrorist attack."

3 Nov 2022 - UK’s Defence Committee refused access to UK Special Forces in heated debate with Defence Minister.

In a British Parliamentary Deference Select Committee on the 2nd November, 2022, the UK Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace, has been challenged for his failure to permit members of the Defence Select Committee access to UK Special Forces.

In a heated exchanged, the Committee chair, Tobias Ellwood MP said that the UK Special Forces were not the best in the world ‘about scrutiny’, and that the Special Forces – including units such as the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Services (SBS) – were “not above scrutiny.”

When asked if the Ministry of Defence could facilitate a visit to Hereford, home of the SAS, the Deference Minister said “no” and went on to argue that “this committee does not have oversight of Special Forces and its operations.”

The chair of the Defence Committee disagreed, saying: “I’m sorry, we have oversight of the Armed Forces in the UK Defence.”

Mr Wallace then said the Special Forces were very busy in operational work.

 ...Earlier this year, Action on Armed Violence raised concerns about a lack of parliamentary oversight of the UK’s Special Forces... 


V. Britain’s culture of no comment (July 2016 - by Emily Knowles)


"The blanket opacity policy that the UK has for its SOF is not standard practice. Other countries, such as the US, Canada, and Australia, make public statements about SOF deployments to active conflict zones, and respond to questions about their mandate and strategy.

The US has increased its transparency over SOF in recent years without it restricting their ability to deploy SOF. The fact that the UK public, and the parliament that represents them, do not have access to any official information about the deployment of SOF means that there can be no meaningful, informed debate about the UK’s role in some of the most important conflicts of our age. This opacity could have damaging implications for the effectiveness, accountability, and legitimacy of UK military options abroad..." 


VI. Another changes in UK 

26 July 2022 - Celebrated head of the Royal Navy’s Submarine Service retires

Taking over from Commodore Perks is Commodore Dunn who himself has a wealth of submarine experience stretching back to 1989 when he joined the Royal Navy aged just 18 and volunteered for service on submarines.

10 August 2022 - The Prime Minister has approved the appointment of Vice Admiral Sir Chris Gardner KBE as the new CEO of the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA).

 


Related posts about UK:

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