Is the Government making progress on protecting undersea cables?
On Monday, MPs and Lords on the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy will hear what progress the government has made in recent months to protect the UK’s undersea cables from surveillance and sabotage.
The Committee published a report last year which found the government was “too timid” in defending vulnerable cables from attack. It called for more muscular deterrence, better crisis response plans and governance. In response, minsters said they would set up a new cross-government body to coordinate policy, and that they would update risk planning to consider coordinated sabotage of cables.
The session follows recent incidents of Russian surveillance. The Defence Secretary told the public earlier this year that Russia had deployed a submarine as a “likely decoy” to distract from two other vessels mapping the UK’s cable infrastructure.
Meeting details
Committee Members are likely to ask ministers about the government’s response to these incidents, as well as the progress it has made on the Atlantic Bastion project and options to improve sovereign access to emergency repair capabilities.
In the second panel, featuring witnesses with expertise in security and cable infrastructure, Members are likely to ask about their views of the government’s progress including on landing station security, cable repair, and cable protection areas, among other subjects.