The fusion doctrine: in age of terror and hybrid warfare, UK must deploy all capabilities to defeat enemies, says PM May

Prime Minister Theresa May will warn those “who seek to attack us” that Britain will deploy all its capabilities to defeat them, in a national security review to be published on Wednesday addressing new, modern-world threats.

Unveiling a “fusion doctrine” for tackling national security threats, May says in the foreword of the review that every part of government and its agencies will have a part to play.

Coming just days after Britain moved quickly to blame a nerve-agent attack against a former Russia spy on Moscow, the review says London must use its soft power and communications resources to combat new hybrid warfare.

It will say the threat from Islamist attacks is expected to remain high for at least the next two years and may increase, and cover wider challenges from states, such as Russia, North Korea and Iran.

May, a former interior minister, says in the foreword of the report that Britain has seen attacks in London and Manchester, and the “attempted murder” in Salisbury.

“Crucially what all of these incidents have made clear is that our national security is conditional … on our ability to mobilise most effectively the full range of our capabilities in concert to respond to the challenges we face,” she wrote, according to excerpts provided by her office.

She said Britain would now not only use the police, security services and army, but also measures ranging “from economic levers, through cutting-edge military resources to our wider diplomatic and cultural influence on the world’s stage”.