Fusion Doctrine

The UK's Fusion Doctrine, introduced in the 2018 National Security Capability Review (NSCR), was a "whole-of-government" approach aimed at better orchestrating all national capabilities—from economic to military to diplomatic—to achieve national security objectives.

Its main changes and innovations included:

• Integrated use of all national levers: The core innovation was the explicit commitment to using the full spectrum of state power in a joined-up way to achieve objectives, rather than relying on individual departmental efforts. This meant leveraging economic, security, and influence capabilities in concert to make the UK's response "greater than the sum of its parts". In other words this gave the intelligence services markedly increased power and oversight over the whole of rlevant government departments and areas of activity.
• Breaking down silos: The doctrine aimed to move away from a "federated system" of policy delivery towards genuine "teamwork" across government departments and agencies, breaking down traditional organizational boundaries. Again this allows enhanced intelligence power and control over government.
• Formalised coordination mechanisms: It embedded the use of the Fusion Doctrine framework in all National Security Council (NSC) meetings and introduced specific structures for delivery.
• Senior Responsible Officials (SROs) were appointed for specific national security priorities, personally accountable to the NSC for coordinating cross-departmental work.
• National Security Strategy Implementation Groups (NSSIGs) were created as cross-government working groups under the NSC Secretariat to develop and deliver strategies for specific geographic or thematic areas.
• Emphasis on the private sector: The doctrine was a notable departure from previous approaches in fully recognizing that the private sector is a core, integral component of national security, not just a provider of technical solutions.
• Addressing 'hybrid' threats: It was designed to address complex, ambiguous threats, such as 'hybrid warfare' and state-based disinformation campaigns, which blur the lines between war and peace, domestic and foreign policy, and require a multi-agency response. This allowed the intelligence services to gain more power and control over propaganda and communications in government.

While the specific term "Fusion Doctrine" has largely been superseded by the language of "integration" in the subsequent 2021 Integrated Review and 2025 National Security Strategy, the underlying principles of a whole-of-government, integrated approach to national security have been retained and deepened.

According to a 2019 account published by RUSI:

The end of this month marks the first anniversary of the UK’s Fusion Doctrine. Launched as a central component of last year’s National Security and Capability Review (NSCR), Fusion Doctrine is Mark Sedwill’s National Security Council (NSC) initiative to fuse capabilities, across ‘economic, security, social and the rest’, to deliver strategy-led design of policy and planning. The latest conceptual evolution of the old administrative coordination doctrine, Fusion’s aim should not be a surprise given Sedwill’s diplomatic and economic background.

To improve decision-making, the NSC has appointed three-star Senior Responsible Owners (SRO) taken from across government departments to lead National Security Strategy and Implementation Groups. The individual groups focus on clearly defined thematic/regional areas of interest and risks, while recognising that the different areas will have some intersecting commonalities. The developing structure drives cross-department engagement, inputs and leadership to examine the multifaceted NSC priorities. It also requires agility to rapidly adapt as the UK’s strategic context evolves. In short, Sedwill is leading a mindset change across understanding, accountability, interdepartmental practices and capability decisions. This is a significant improvement on previous sofa government deliberations.

Resources

• https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5af1991040f0b642e2d8fa06/6.4391_CO_National-Security-Review_web.pdf
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defence-guidance-for-integrated-working
• https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201719/jtselect/jtnatsec/2072/207206.htm
• https://www.saferworld-global.org/downloads/fusionreportonlinedocument.pdf
• https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60521238d3bf7f04591df707/20210316-OMSE_new_web-O.pdf