National Security

The tension between national security and individual liberties is a perennial issue, shaping the dynamics of countries worldwide.

The struggle emerges from the need to strike a delicate balance between two essential, yet sometimes conflicting, mandates: the state's duty to safeguard its citizens, and its responsibility to uphold personal freedoms and civil liberties.

At the heart of national security is the state's responsibility to protect its citizens from threats, such as terrorism, foreign espionage, and cyber-attacks. This mandate necessitates intelligence gathering, surveillance, and law enforcement activities to detect, prevent, and respond to such threats effectively.

However, these mechanisms can infringe upon individual liberties and rights that are often enshrined in national constitutions and international human rights laws. These include the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly, among others.

Technological advancements have further intensified this struggle. Rapid digitization and the high prominence of the internet have allowed states to surveil and collect data on citizens on an unprecedented scale. Mass data collection, sometimes termed 'bulk surveillance,' has become a topic of considerable controversy, and legal challenges to these practices are ongoing in many jurisdictions.

Also, the global nature of the internet means that foreign actors can try to maliciously interfere in the affairs of other countries by affecting what topics, ideas or even political candidates trend on their social media and news websites, especially during election seasons effectively waging wars of algorithms. Protecting against this type of national security threat is an especially sensitive task because this may require governments to make determinations about which topics and ideas are trending naturally and which are pushed by global adversaries and then take actions based on those determinations, but the government having the power to decide which public discourse topics and ideas are legitimate and which are not seem to be in direct opposition of the concept of free speech and freedom of expression.

Questions we will be tackling at the event:

What are some of the most relevant national security threats that governments should take measures against?

What are the most effective measures governments can take against national security threats? What roles should private companies, particularly tech companies, play in protecting national security and respecting individual privacy rights?

How can we ensure that national security measures are not used as a pretext to silence political opposition or suppress dissent?

In the context of foreign digital interference such as election meddling, how can states protect their national security without compromising freedom of speech and expression?