[National Security: The Reality Check] - The Keystone of Public Policy

What Is National Security? What Distinguishes It from National Defense, Diplomacy, or Homeland Security?

National security relates to the fundamental interests of the nation: its integrity, its independence, its freedom of action, its prosperity... More specifically, national security refers to the state function aimed at guaranteeing, preserving, and generating these fundamental interests.

Let us look at a few examples: between 2022 and 2023, France expelled around fifty Russian agents identified by French counter-intelligence operating on its territory. In 2021, the French Treasury (DG Trésor) blocked the acquisition of the French SME Photonis - a world leader in night vision and optoelectronic components - by the American group Teledyne Technologies. Between 2022 and 2025, French armed forces handed over forty-two CAESAR howitzers and more than a hundred SCALP missiles, while also training Ukrainian soldiers on their soil, to counter the threat Russia poses to French sovereignty and that of its allies. In 2024, intelligence services foiled nine attempted terrorist attacks on French territory.

In all of these actions, the State, through a number of specialized actors, steps in to safeguard the nation's fundamental interests. This is the essence of national security.

We also see that national security is a permanent function, carried out continuously. It mobilizes state actors who work around the clock - both on national territory (including France’s overseas territories) and abroad - to maintain our security. In this sense, there is no "peacetime" in the field of national security, but rather a permanent confrontation against strategic competitors, both state and non-state. These competitors likewise mobilize a variety of combined resources and threaten our interests: this is what could be called a "peacetime conflictuality" (a form of conflict that can take diverse and gradual shapes).

Finally, we see what distinguishes national security from the various resources it mobilizes and deploys: military resources (defense), diplomatic resources (foreign affairs), law enforcement resources (homeland security), the Strategic Information and Economic Security Service-SISSE (economic security), etc. National security integrates these different dimensions of state action and directs them toward its own specific purpose. It is in this sense that it is said that "all public policies contribute to national security" (Article L. 1111-1 of the Defense Code), and that national security is the keystone of public policy.

Why Talk About National Security Now? Why Must It Gain Prominence in Both Political Priorities and Public Debate?

Paradoxically, while national security is in a way the ultimate culmination of our public policies, it remains relatively absent from public debate and strategic reflections. It only returns to the forefront during dramatic events or major setbacks (such as the 2015 terrorist attacks, or an upheaval in our system of alliances, like the 2020 coup in Mali), and is often only addressed indirectly through the lens of specific resources (for instance, military budgets or funding for domestic security forces). Yet, by definition, national security engages the entire nation - state actors, economic players, and citizens alike - at the level of its most fundamental interests. Therefore, anything that can increase ownership and understanding of our national security challenges is beneficial for both citizens and the effectiveness of state action.

How Is National Security Approached in Other Countries?

Each national security model reflects the values and history of its country, of which it is a product. However, if we examine the different ways national security is structured, we observe two constants: the anchoring of national security systems at the highest decision-making level and the need to adopt an organization that allows for an integrated approach. What makes the difference is the ability to design actions from the outset that maneuver all available resources, rather than merely coordinating existing ones.