www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 27
t
he security challenges confronting national Defence
organizations are both complex and dynamic. Nations
around the globe now face a myriad of threats that vary
greatly in both scope and scale.
Long¬standing threats from neighboring nations, such as the
enduring tensions on the Korean peninsula and Indian subcon-
tinent, are the types of traditional challenges that most national
Defence organizations have been organized to confront.
But major terrorist attacks such as those of September 11, 2001
and, more recently, terrorist attacks in Paris, attacks on school
children in Kenya and French satirical writers in Paris, typify the
emergent challenges of 'asymmetrical adversaries' who possess
destructive and disruptive capabilities that are more difficult to
detect and defeat through conventional means - and thinking.
At the same time, in many Western nations budgetary challenges
are putting downward pressure on Defence spending. Faced with
significant and growing government entitlement costs, sluggish
economic growth, and weariness after over a decade of overseas
operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Defence budgets for many
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allies and partners
have dropped substantially in recent years.
Despite aggressive moves to cut overhead costs, and efforts
to operate with like-minded nations in coalitions, many of these
countries continue to struggle to modernize outdated systems
and maintain readiness as the security environment facing minis-
tries is both uncertain and increasingly complex.
Other nations face different challenges that are no less com-
plex. Some, like Ukraine, face existential security threats that are
driving their Defence priorities. Other states, such as Japan and
Poland, are being confronted by an aggressive China or revanchist
Russia, respectively.
In the Middle East, the Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia, the
G
GLOBaL DEFENCE
Jeffrey D. rodney is Director / VP, Consulting &
Deals - Government Defense at PwC. Jeffrey has over 15
years of management consulting experience in the area
of operational effectiveness for Fortune 500 companies
and the public sector.
gLobaL deFenCe
peRspeCtives
Mapping Prioritization and Posture in a Challenging World
