Defining National Security

• Author: Craig Forcese
• Profession: Faculty of Law, Common Law. University of Ottawa
• Pages: 3-13

3

CHA PTER 1

DEFINING

NATIONAL SECURITY

This is a book about the law governi ng the Canadian state’s response

to serious crises; t hat is, events that jeopardize it s “national security.”

“National security” i s a term fami liar to most people. A search of Can-

ada News stand — an electronic archive of stories drawn from Canad-

ian newspapers — suggests that the words “national security” appeared

23,065 times in articles between September 11, 20 01 and January 2007.

During an equivalent period of time prior to September 11, 2001, the

phrase occurred just 8,313 times. This is not a scientif‌ic survey. It does,

however, point to the prevalence — and increased prominence — of the

concept in popular discourse.

And yet, despite it s ubiquity, the expression “national security”

does not lend itself to precise def‌initions. As noted in a 2002 think-tank

report, “the term national security is used frequently to refer to matter s

ranging from domest ic or internal security through to international

security, but is seldom def‌ined.”1 This paradox obliges a careful attempt

in this introduction to def‌ine the project of thi s book, before mapping

its content.

1 W.D. Macnamara & Ann Fit z-Gerald, “A National Securit y Framework for Can-

ada” (2002) 3:10 Polic y Matters at 7.