National security

National security refers to the requirement to maintain the survival of the nation-state through the use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of diplomacy.

Measures taken to ensure national security include:


 * using diplomacy to rally allies and isolate threats
 * maintaining effective armed forces
 * implementing civil defense and emergency preparedness measures (including anti-terrorism legislation)
 * ensuring the resilience and redundancy of critical infrastructure
 * using intelligence services to detect and defeat or avoid threats and espionage, and to protect classified information
 * using counterintelligence services or secret police to protect the nation from internal threats.