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The RUSI Year

Highlights of RUSI's activities throughout 2008

January

In recognition of RUSI's work on Pakistan and South Asia, former President Pervez Musharraf (at the time, still head of state) spoke at RUSI in January 2008. Speaking shortly after the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, extensively analysed by RUSI, the general’s presentation was particularly poignant and set the agenda for dynamic change by a head of state under pressure.

February

RUSI dominated the news agenda once again on 15 February 2008 after the RUSI Journal published a consensus view of former military chiefs, diplomats, analysts and academics. The group claimed that the UK was a ‘soft touch’ on security and called for radical constitutional innovation in the form of new twin Whitehall and parliamentary committees that would draw together all the threads of government relating to defence and security to meet the global risks and threats of today. The lead authors, Lord Salisbury and Professor Gwyn Prins, proposed that this new structure could help to repair the 'severe erosion of confidence' and support between the British people, their government and Britain’s security and defence forces.

The publication of both articles generated intense discussion in the media and blogosphere (with front page coverage in the Daily Telegraph  and the Daily Mail, and features on ‘Today’, BBC Breakfast news and GMTV among others). The Daily Mail subsequently commented on the power of RUSI, and both issues are now said to be firmly on the government’s agenda. Highlighting RUSI’s commitment to facilitating robust discussion on these subjects, RUSI commissioned Professor Tariq Modood critically to evaluate the notion that a misplaced deference to ‘multiculturalism’ undercut the fight against extremism.

March

Anticipating the emergence of the global security threat of piracy off the coast of Somalia, RUSI Qatar co-organised the Doha International Maritime and Defence Exhibition and Conference in March 2008 to discuss the defence of the maritime environment in the Middle East and North Africa.  The conference, produced in partnership with the Qatar MCE Development Institute, discussed the region's strategic challenges, technological capabilities and prospects for co-operation and produced a range of important research documents.

April

RUSI published a book on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War containing prospective and retrospective predictions for the country, the region and international security. The book drew on first-hand testimony and assessments from the practitioners of their day – Sir Jeremy Greenstock speaking of the diplomatic manoeuvrings in the UN and Air Chief Marshal Sir Brian Burridge outlining the military challenges pre-and post invasion. 

Launching the book, ‘War Without Consequences’, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statute, Sir Jeremy Greenstock’s contribution received notable coverage in the Daily Telegraph, Independent, The Times, and Guardian after he revealed that post-conflict planning in Iraq was ‘woefully inadequate’. RUSI provided thorough coverage of the situation in Iraq throughout its publications and online.

RUSI provided a key contribution to the debate on climate change and security in an April Whitehall Paper. 'Climate Change and Security', written by former senior advisor to the UK Prime Minister's Strategy Unit Nick Mabey, predicted that, unless it is controlled, climate change could cause global conflicts as large as the two World Wars which will last for centuries. The Report concluded that a tenfold increase in spending, comparable to the amount spent on the Apollo space programme, will be needed if the world is to avoid the worst effects of changing temperatures. The Report garnered worldwide media and blog interest, and has contributed to the research work of officials in Whitehall, Brussels and the United States Department of Defense.

May

Looking forward to the forthcoming US elections, RUSI brought together top Washington and London foreign policy analysts to assess the prospects for the US and its allies in the light of the changed geopolitical situation. The Global Leadership Forum, produced in partnership with Newsweek, the Princeton Project on National Security and Berwin Leighton Paisner, included many panellists with close ties or advisory roles to the presidential candidates, and dealt with issues at the heart of the US's current situation.

June

The Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, gave a wide ranging speech to RUSI explaining the way in which the Army has not only adapted to the challenges that it faces today but also how it will transform in contact to meet the challenges in ten years time.

A Whitehall Paper by Malcolm Chalmers on 'Global Inequality and Security Policy' warned of the severity of one of these threats: that inequality between and within nation states could lead to increased levels of armed conflict, which are likely to impact on developed nations and particularly the United Kingdom.

July

RUSI's Homeland Security and Resilience department provided a major contribution to the government's Pitt Review on emergency response, risk and resilience. The document, 'Learning lessons from the 2007 floods: An independent review', incorporated RUSI research documents, interviews and comments from the Emergency Response and Civil Defence workshop held at RUSI in February.

August

RUSI utilised its expertise in the Caucasus region to provide in-depth analysis and commentary on the conflict in South Ossetia and became a valued source of expert opinions on Georgia and Russia in the national and international media.

September

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, speaking at RUSI in September, addressed the ongoing crisis in South Ossetia, reaffirming his support for Georgia’s claim to full membership of NATO while simultaneously recognising the limits of the organisation’s inability to act as a global policeman. 

Further building on its work on Pakistan, RUSI also hosted General (Retd) Ehsan Ul Haq, Pakistan’s former Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff and former director of the Inter-Service Intelligence, Imran Khan, Chairman of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party and organised a major conference on growing instability in the Kashmir region.

October

A RUSI briefing note by Paul Smyth warning that a potential famine in Afghanistan this winter presented a greater threat to regional security than the Taliban insurgency grabbed the attention of the international community in October. The note gained widespread recognition from the international community and the world’s media.

Maintaining RUSI’s focus on Afghanistan, the former UN commander in Bosnia, General Sir Michael Rose, writing in the RUSI Journal, identified severe operational problems with the coalition forces’ efforts, while General John Craddock, supreme NATO commander in Europe, argued in a speech at RUSI that members of the alliance were demonstrating a lack of political will in failing to send the promised numbers of troops to Afghanistan.

Providing futher detail on the risk that piracy poses to global security, RUSI brought together distinguished speakers to assess major challenges including piracy and transnational security during the Crisis in the Horn of Africa conference. RUSI's Africa programme also included extensive analysis on the situation in Zimbabwe and an AFRICOM and US-Africa relations conference in February, which included an address by AFRICOM commander General William 'Kip' Ward.

In addition, RUSI.org hosted a series of articles on the effects of the credit crunch on defence and security.

In recognition of RUSI's 'expertise, research and a rigour in an impressive set of publications and policy interventions', the Institute was declared Prospect Magazine's 'Think Tank of the Year' on 6 October.

November

A RUSI book by Brigadier (retd) Bill Kincaid published in November sparked controversy over claims that a ‘wasteful’ defence acquisition culture leads to unnecessarily high cost, increased waste and greater loss of lives in operations. Coinciding with criticism of the government’s defence policy, the book received widespread national coverage. RUSI hosted debate on the book’s findings on www.rusi.org, including contributions from the Ministry of Defence – who described the book’s findings as ‘outdated and sensationalist’.

RUSI Defence Systems published a series of articles on defence inflation, most notably by Associate Fellow David Kirkpatrick whose article stimulated a question in the House of Lords.

December

RUSI's experts were consulted extensively after the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, providing insight and analysis into the attackers' origins, training and motives in major news outlets.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, in his annual address to RUSI members as the Chief of the Defence Staff, stated that the Mumbai attacks must not be allowed to divert attention from the real danger facing the international community, and reiterated the need for a sustainable increase in troop numbers in Afghanistan.

Compiled by Tom Walker for RUSI.org

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