Military matters

Since the atrocity of 9/11, the threat posed by Islamic terrorism has been the predominant concern for Britain and its allies. The main priority of our military and intelligence services has been to focus on combating Islamist-inspired terrorist groups such as al-qaeda and, more recently, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Now, however, as the new head of the Army, General Mark Carleton-smith, argues in our exclusive interview, it is Russia that is “indisputably” the Western alliance’s greatest challenge.

General Carleton-smith points out that the Russians seek “to exploit vulnerability and weakness wherever they detect it” and have embarked on “a systematic effort to explore and exploit Western vulnerabilities, particularly in some of the non-traditional areas of cyber, space and undersea warfare”. Vladimir Putin’s operatives believe they can win by “changing the facts on the ground. They are deliberately testing Western tolerance levels”. Moscow has clearly demonstrated that it is prepared to use military force to secure and expand its own national interests.

Amid the complications of the Brexit negotiations, the Government must not lose sight of its primary duty to protect its citizens. It must ensure that our military and intelligence services are fully resourced to be capable of tackling the threat posed by Mr Putin’s Russia: in other words that the UK can protect itself from non-traditional threats while simultaneously assisting in conventional defence. The necessary funding must be forthcoming. Scrimping on the defence of the realm is a very false economy.