National Security Strategy 2025: Security for the British People in a Dangerous World (updated)

National Security Strategy 2025 identifies the main challenges the UK faces in an era of radical uncertainty and sets out a new Strategic Framework covering all aspects of national security and international policy.

Published 24 June 2025

Last updated 29 August 2025 — See all updates

National Security Strategy 2025: Security for the British People in a Dangerous World (PDF)

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The purpose of the National Security Strategy 2025: Security for the British People in a Dangerous World (NSS 2025) is to identify the main challenges we face as a nation in an era of radical uncertainty, to describe the key principles underlying the government's approach to these challenges, and to explain the actions the government will be taking in response.

The Strategic Context describes an intensification of great power competition and greater prospect of geopolitical volatility. These include: confrontation with adversaries (whether indirect or, potentially, directly); competition with other states (both strategic and systematic); and cooperation (which will become harder but arguably even more important than ever before).

The Strategic Framework sets out principles to guide the UK's response to this context.

• Security at Home - defending our territory, making the UK a harder target and building resilience to future threats. Delivering on the security and resilience of our homeland and people, both in the physical and online world, is critical for delivering economic growth and this Government's missions to improve the lives of the British people.
• Strength Abroad - bolstering collective security, renewing and refreshing key alliances and developing new partnerships in new domains. Using all the levers of state and national power to achieve influence abroad in a more challenging international environment.
• Increasing sovereign and asymmetric capabilities - rebuilding our defence industrial base, developing and maintaining sovereign capabilities and pursuing asymmetric strategies. Ensuring our national security agenda aligns with our mission to grow the economy and increase opportunity for the British people by reducing our dependence on others and their ability to coerce us.