I N T E R N A T I O N A L A N A L Y S I S
Since the 21st century, health has been considered a
security issue at both national and international level
resistant tuberculosis and the risk of bio-terrorist acts. In fact, the
UN Security Council has only issued three resolutions regarding
infectious diseases, one in 1983 about AIDS and two about the
Ebola virus. It was in one of the latter two resolutions that an
infectious disease was classified for the first time as a threat to
peace and security, in accordance with Article 39 of the Charter of
the United Nations.
At national level, security strategies address, to a greater
or lesser extent, the security threats engendered by the
emergence of pandemics, and are even complemented by
specific strategies seeking to strengthen national capacities to
prevent, detect, respond and, where appropriate, recover from
a health threat.
For instance, in 2018 Britain published a review of its national
security strategy entitled National Security Capability Review,
which includes diseases as a new challenge, placing them at
the same level as terrorism or cyber-attacks. A few months later
it adopted the first National Biosecurity Strategy: UK Biological
Security Strategy.
As for the US, the 2017 National Security Strategy establishes
that biological incidents have the potential to cause catastrophic
effects either as a result of a natural outbreak or of a deliberate
incident. Ebola, SARS and the anthrax incident are examples of
how a biological threat strikes at the country’s security, causing
casualties, generating economic losses and questioning the
credibility of government institutions.
This strategy is complemented by two new ones: the National
Health Security Strategy (NHSS) for 2019-2022 and the National
Biodefence Strategy. The latter provides, for the first time, a
framework to address biological threats, whether naturally
occurring or intentional, from a comprehensive viewpoint and with
more effective coordination among the various departments and
agencies of the US federal administration.
In Spain, the 2017 National Security Strategy considers
epidemics and pandemics as a challenge to national security and
sets the objective of “adopting preparedness and response plans
for both generic and specific health risks, applying the principle
of coordination between the Spanish Central Administration and
those of the Autonomous Communities as well as with international
organizations, such as the WHO or, within the EU, the European
Centre for Disease Prevention and Control”. In this regard, the
Armed Forces have demonstrated how, using their capabilities,
they can support civilian authorities to mitigate the consequences
of a pandemic outbreak, as is currently happening with Operation
Balmis in the fight against coronavirus.
There is no such thing as zero risk for pandemics, and even
less so in such a changing world. Globalization has made the world
more vulnerable to the social and economic impacts of infectious
disease outbreaks. At international level, there will be a need to
foster collaboration and cooperation through a pragmatic use of
diplomacy and multilateralism. At national level, an effort will be
required to prepare and integrate all civilian and military capabilities
to face new epidemic outbreaks, whether natural or deliberate.L
US Army/Thomas Bey
April 2020 Revista Española de Defensa 33
UN/Evan Scheinder