NSCS's Addendum to the President's Address

A little belated, but below is the addendum to the President's address by the National Security Coordination Secretariat (NSCS).

PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (NATIONAL SECURITY COORDINATION SECRETARIAT)

(Addendum to the President’s Address)

The Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Teo Chee Hean):

Terrorism remains a persistent threat. Recent terror attacks in Indonesia, India and Norway are clear reminders that acts of terrorism are not exclusively associated with any one sector of the ideological spectrum. “Lone Wolf” terrorists, who act without formal links to an established terrorist organisation, aided by easily available tools and methods propagated by the internet, are much more difficult to prevent. Besides terrorism, the incidence of cyber attacks has escalated over the years and the consequences are becoming increasingly significant.

Whole-of-Government response

Our security agencies have remained vigilant but we cannot be complacent. The National Security Coordination Secretariat (NSCS) promotes collaboration across government agencies to mitigate threats in a holistic manner across domains such as aviation, maritime, land transport, critical infrastructure and cyberspace. A collaborative approach creates synergies between agencies and optimises the use of scarce resources.

Developing a vigilant and resilient society

A well coordinated government response has to be complemented with the participation of all Singaporeans. NSCS continues to organise and coordinate national security awareness and outreach programmes to engage all segments of our society. Collectively, we must be able to withstand an attack, bounce back and recover quickly should the worst come to pass.

Leveraging technology

Technology is an effective force multiplier. Given Singapore’s limited resources, we need to harness advanced technologies to address threats to our national security. The National Security Engineering Centre (NSEC), set up in partnership with the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), supports this through a national security technology roadmap that prioritises and develops technological applications.

Risk assessment and horizon scanning

NSCS has developed a Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning (RAHS) capability to raise Singapore’s strategic anticipation capability, and to promote cross-domain and cross-agency sharing of perspectives on national security.