Major cuts are being planned in defence spending to meet the Government’s target of saving £20 billion. As its latest strategic review goes ahead, a former Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff argues that Whitehall first needs to understand the changing nature of the threats it now faces What is “defence” for? With no longer a border in Germany to defend against the Soviets and no faith in liberal military interventionism, such as practised in Tony Blair’s wars after 9/11, the military instrument would seem of questionable relevance to many in Westminster. So how should the Conservative Government answer the question set by its Coalition predecessor when it announced a Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) to be completed by late October this year?The