Invisible enemies and national security

Since 1999 the world community has begun to recognise the national security implications of infectious disease.

In that year the UN Security Council declared AIDS a national security threat and the following year called for a more expansive definition of what should be included in National Security. A few weeks later US National Intelligence argued that global infectious disease endangered US life, threatened US Armed Forces and exacerbated social and political stability in most countries.

There is little doubt that population and health are of key importance to security in the 21^st century and that public health is one of the basic props on which national security rests. But in many ways the link has been insufficiently appreciated in countries like Australia.

To a large extent this reflects a preoccupation with traditional definitions of security such as the dynamics of international relations and the protection of Australia from external threats. It also reflects an over-riding concern for the physical manifestations of insecurity rather than a full understanding of underlying causative factors.

The Australian National Security Statement released in 2008 makes only passing reference to demographic and health factors as playing an important role in our national security.

It is sad that the recognition of public health and particularly infectious disease as a critical security issue continues to be largely ignored by our government. In many ways this is difficult to understand given the way infectious disease has helped shape human history over the last 1000 or so years claiming billions of lives.

Australian history is replete with major outbreaks of infectious disease including Influenza, plague, smallpox, polio, HIV/AIDS, SARS, bird flu and coronavirus to mention but a few. As well, childhood infections have wreaked havoc particularly in the period prior to 1960 but continuing to this day.

There is also little doubt that Australia will experience a range of epidemics and pandemics over the next decade. Despite the Australian Government perhaps believing otherwise, there is little doubt that public health, demography and infectious disease are critical to our national security and should be viewed as such.

Such things as population growth, fertility decline, ageing, the movement of people, products and pathogens as well as the importance of the biophysical environment, are without doubt critical to our national security. People and health are the wealth of our nation and the critical capital which we need to preserve, protect and bolster.

Our history of infectious disease has been the history of microbes on the march often in our wake, and of microbes that are quick to take advantage of the many opportunities offered by our behaviour.

The historical processes that have given rise to the emergence and spread of infectious diseases in our past continue today with unabated force and are in fact accelerating because of the conditions of modern life, particularly the speed and volume of travel and the way we continue to interfere with, or intrude upon, our natural environment.

Our current security rests on the assumption that infectious diseases simply come and go and that because we have an arsenal of better medicines, better health care systems, education and communication to address such threats, our vulnerability is protected. In many ways nothing could be further from the truth.

Given the dominance of infectious disease there seems little doubt that epidemics and pandemics can no longer simply be the sole preserve of the physician or Public Health specialist.  

The argument that infectious disease threatens our National Security rests on the proposition that the health of Australia’s population is a critical resource vital to our nation and that epidemics and pandemics not only threaten our way of life but also target the viability of our nation. Epidemic and pandemic threats involve every aspect of modern life, including human rights, travel, commerce and trade and education.

In Australia, national security continues to be interpreted very narrowly as largely representing security against territorial aggression and physical threats to our overseas citizens. It is largely concerned with preserving the integrity of the Commonwealth of Australia, its territorial boundaries, its political institutions and its relationships with other countries.

Our failure to recognise public health as a critical part of our national security plan threatens our very existence and allows our government in times of infectious disease outbreaks to simply throw the responsibility over to health professionals.

Today, as coronavirus demonstrates, infectious disease recognises no borders and the risks to all Australians are so great that simply relying on traditional public health approaches may well be inadequate. Furthermore, governments cannot do it alone.

Currently Australia operates with a matrix of infectious disease surveillance systems run by the Commonwealth and all states and territories. Overall, there is a general lack of cooperation, coordination and planning at a national level and little interaction between the different systems.

All states and territories and the federal government must agree on a combined strategy addressing epidemic/pandemic preparedness, response and recovery. To fully achieve this, we need to have a national security strategy that recognises infectious disease as something which threatens all our lives and wellbeing.

Without a healthy, fearless citizenry Australia cannot prosper, expand its economy, secure its borders and maintain national and international integrity. Arguably, the health and wellbeing of all its people is a critical resource vital to our nation and that epidemics and pandemics not only threaten our way of life but also target the viability of our nation.

If the Australian Government cannot guarantee the health of all its people, then it is failing its most fundamental responsibility.

There is little doubt that infectious disease is one of the greatest dangers to Australia’s security. The underlying message is that infectious disease needs to be at the top of our national security agenda.