Summary: From Segmented to Network-Centric Security Policy in a European Union of 25 States
Heiko Borchert/Reinhardt Rummel
The European Security Strategy opens new perspectives for the development of a European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) to manage three functions in the future: - build and develop adequate security-political capabilities to meet the new security challenges - contribute to the stabilization of crisis regions through civil and military operations - introduce and implement the shift from a segmented to a network-centric security policy.
Redefining the security factors, and there with the entire security-political approach of the Union, will help overcome the dichotomous military-civil understanding of security policy, dating back to the initial stages of establishing an ESDP, and go beyond the military and civil categories of thinking and acting, in order to find adequate answers to the new security-political challenges.
It is not merely a question of having military and civilian intervention tools available simultaneously but rather of being able to employ them jointly, which can only be managed by changing from a segment-oriented to a network-centric understanding of security-political concepts, capabilities, capacities, and instruments.
This change in security policy is a consequence of (a) the new face of conflicts, (b) the new operational understanding adapted to it, whereby the line between ensuring security militarily or with civil means is fluent, and (c) the need to achieve political coherence with a view to deepening and promoting European integration.
The threat nature and the dynamic development process of the Union suggest that the EU pursue a network-centric-oriented security policy. EU enlargement and further integration urge the need for consistent policy planning and implementation, which means that the ESDP will have to consider military and civil security as inseparable within the same context. However, aside from developing a network-centric warfare concept, security policy has thus far not seen any explicit application of it. The transition calls for substantial adaptations in three key areas: shaping security policy (development, planning, implementation, and effectiveness assessment of the strategy), capability-orientation (identification, creation and further development of joint capabilities), and improved cooperation (risk assessment, intelligence acquisition, standardization, cooperation with the economy).
The future will demand a security approach that goes beyond the strict separation of military, police, and civil operation options and allows for a new operational spectrum that facilitates fluent transition among them. Despite its shortcomings, the ESDP is, in essence, the right answer to the challenges we are going to face. A reform of the security sector, as outlined above, is in the interest of a European Union comprising 25 states and will contribute substantially to achieving ESS goals, while expanding the security zone and strengthening the international order.
In addition, there are signs that the European network-centric approach of combining military and non-military capabilities will further trans-Atlantic relations, particularly with regard to stabilization tasks. This may positively influence the development of capabilities on both sides of the Atlantic, whether in a joint or in a coordinated manner.
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