“Looking ahead, staying secure" refers to the constant need to “stay ahead of the curve” in the security arena in order to maintain Singapore's track record of peace and security.

Security rests on three pillars: the government, the people and the nation as a whole. By strengthening the coordination and integration of government agencies into a cohesive network, and encouraging the bonds of unity among the people, Singapore will become a nation that is holistically resilient.

At the same time, Singapore must look beyond coordination amongst government agencies to achieve greater reach through cooperation with like-minded states and with international organizations.

We strengthen coordination and collaboration across Government; we lead and support programmes to enhance our nation's security, resilience and preparedness against strategic threats.

Our primary role is to strengthen the coordination and collaboration within Government (in a national security context. Besides that, we lead or support programmes that work towards enhancing Singapore's security, resilience and preparedness against key strategic threats.

Singapore has been concerned with the issue of terrorism long before 9/11, and several of its agencies had been developing capabilities to deal with specific threats such as those in the chemical and biological domain.

As early as in 1999, a unit called the National Security Secretariat (NSS) within MINDEF was set up and tasked to strengthen coordination among Singapore's existing security agencies. The NSS sought to forge and strengthen inter-agency links through the strategic convergence of these organizations and other relevant government ministries, directing efforts against the emerging threats of non-conventional warfare and transnational terrorism.

9/11, when it occurred, served to reinforce the urgency and importance of dealing comprehensively with terrorism. Singapore acted swiftly, implementing several ad hoc coordinating arrangements to protect itself from subsequent attacks.

Through these arrangements, much progress was made towards hardening Singapore against terrorist attacks, such as in regard to aviation, land transport and maritime security. Enhanced security measures were also incorporated to protect land entry points, airport, ports, critical installations and key public areas. Singapore also improved our capabilities to deal with explosive, chemical and biological threats.

The work done succeeded in raising overall vigilance and readiness and helped to close capability gaps that had been identified. However, Singapore could not depend on such ad hoc arrangements in the long run; they had to be replaced by robust institutional structures, dedicated to maintaining readiness levels and checking that all angles were adequately covered.

By this time, transnational terrorism had clearly transformed the national security landscape, and could not be dealt with anymore in the traditional stove pipe manner, with MINDEF handling defence against an external military threat, and MHA dealing with internal security arising from criminal action. The new landscape presented a continuum of security challenges, ranging from state-directed military threats, to low-intensity conflict, to ideologically inspired and globally pervasive terrorism, which all countries including Singapore had to face. A new Whole of Government approach was hence needed to deal with this, as the earlier approach of dividing tasks into watertight compartments to be dealt with by separate ministries was no longer effective.

It was decided that formulating relevant security policy and implementing such integrated and coordinated approaches would be best done through a small coordination unit nestled at the centre of government - the Prime Minister's Office. Such a unit would then coordinate strategic planning, policy formulation and capability development in security and intelligence to cope with the threat of terrorism.

With this insight, on 20 July 2004 in Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Tony Tan laid out the case for a new Strategic Framework for national security in Parliament. This Framework sought to address the issues and close the gaps which were identified, and to put in place the machinery to enable Government to systemically deal with the security issues confronting our nation.

Under the strategic framework, a new National Security Coordination Secretariat (NSCS) was established under the Prime Minister's Office, and tasked with national security planning and the coordination of policy and intelligence issues. The NSS was renamed the National Security Coordination Centre (NSCC) and, together with the Joint Counter Terrorism Centre (JCTC), formed up the NSCS.

The NSCS was initially placed under the charge of DPM Tan. When DPM Tan stepped down on 31 Aug 05, senior oversight of the NSCS was passed to DPM Professor S Jayakumar, who was concurrently appointed Coordinating Minister for National Security (CMNS).

Today, Head of Civil Service Peter Ho is also Permanent Secretary (National Security and Intelligence Coordination) of NSCS, and reports to DPM (CMNS).

The Joint Counter Terrorism Centre (JCTC) is a multi-agency centre which provides strategic analysis of terrorism-related issues to support policy-making and the development of counter-terrorism capabilities; as well as providing strategic early warning of terrorism-related developments.

The NSCC performs three vital roles that keep Singapore secure in the long term: National Security planning, policy coordination, and anticipating strategic threats. As a coordinating body, NSCC ensures that Government agencies complement each other, rather than perform duplicating and competing tasks.

To do this, NSCC is staffed by a Director, and three Deputy Directors, in charge of Policy, Strategic Planning and Risk Assessment & Horizon Scanning (RAHS).

The Policy and International Relations Group leads in national security planning and policy formulation, national security relations and cooperation with other countries and develop public education and outreach programmes.

The Plans and Resource Group in NSCC organises various programmes to assist local and international national security communities in capacity building. It monitors strategic capability development and co-ordinates with ministries in the implementation and resource allocation of cross-agencies projects.

The RAHS Group provides overall coordination and management of the RAHS programme, which was identified in the Strategic Framework for National Security as a key capability for Singapore. RAHS seeks to enable Government agencies to detect and anticipate emerging trends, thus helping to avoid strategic surprise. It also facilitates inter-agency collaboration in an online interactive environment, thereby encouraging a Whole of Government approach to dealing with issues.

Supporting NSCC in its roles are the following Centres:

The Homeland Security Engineering Centre (HSEC) - established in Nov 05 as a unit within the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) in Singapore, HSEC conducts roadmapping and looks into means to better harness technology, to deal with increasingly advanced methods used by terrorists.

The Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) - established in Apr 06 as part of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, CENS builds intellectual capital towards strategizing National Security, an essential component in dealing with the fast-evolving landscape.

The Horizon Scanning Centre (HSC) - HSC serves as the nerve centre of the RAHS network connecting various Government agencies. It manages NSCC’s information databases on the network, facilitates information exchange between agencies, and works with them to apply RAHS in their specific contexts.

The RAHS Experimentation Centre (REC) - launched in Oct 07, REC is managed by DSTA to meet the technology, research and development, and experimentation needs of RAHS. REC conducts exploration and testing of RAHS-related tools and technologies, in collaboration with both Singapore Government agencies, as well as with selected foreign and international partners.

These Centres, together with the staff of NSCC and JCTC, will work and move forward together, contributing towards the survival, security, and economic success of Singapore.