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National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 Contents

1Introduction

1.The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) is a Select Committee of both Houses of Parliament. Our primary function is “to consider the National Security Strategy”.1 The Committee was formed in this Parliament in November 2015. The National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015: A Secure and Prosperous United Kingdom was published on 23 November 2015. We agreed to examine the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 as our first inquiry of the 2015 Parliament.

2.We published inquiry terms of reference and a call for evidence on 4 February 2016.2 We took oral evidence from right hon. Oliver Letwin MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, National Security Adviser and Conrad Bailey, Director of the Strategic Defence and Security Review and Defence in the Cabinet Office National Security Secretariat. In addition, we took oral evidence from a panel of academics who study national security. We are grateful to all those who submitted oral and/or written evidence to our inquiry.3 We also thank our Specialist Advisers, Professor Malcolm Chalmers, Professor Michael Clarke and Professor Sir Hew Strachan, for their input.4

1 Standing Order No 152I, Standing Orders of the House of Commons relating to public business 2016, 10 February 2016, accessed 5 July 2016

2 The inquiry terms of reference can be found on the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy website.

3 This report addresses the NSS & SDSR 2015, which was published seven months before the June 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union. We held our final evidence session one month before the referendum. We nevertheless refer to the referendum outcome where it is of direct and immediate relevance to the topics covered by the inquiry.

4 The declarations of interests by Professor Malcolm Chalmers, Professor Michael Clarke and Professor Sir Hew Strachan are available in the Committee’s Formal Minutes 2015–16.



© Parliamentary copyright 2015

8 July 2016