Precious on national security and the role of communication in a globalized world

From our website Eurispes a very interesting interview with the president of the Security Observatory, general Pasquale Preziosa former Chief of Staff of theair Force until 2016. The topic addressed concerns today's concept of security, and in particular of national security, and on the role that communication plays in representing the complexity of the globalized world.

General Precious, the perception of security has changed in citizens in recent years and especially after the pandemic. Are there new types of insecurity?

The world of globalization is not flat and, the latter, has become a conflict machine: the last is that of the pandemic. Talking about insecurity means talking about the term "security". The certainty in its interpretation, today, is wide: a definition, I would dare to say, “static” is not possible. For the great powers, national security, what the great power wants it to be, we see today in the China-United States confrontation. When China wanted buy Qualcomm from the United States, these also intervened retroactively, for reasons of national security. So, taking a peek into the laws, there is no law today that can fully define what national security is. The history of legislation shows how broad its interpretation is. Moreover, we speak of national security only after globalization, before the most used term was national "interest"; then, someone identified it as military security. But, today, naturally after globalization, security is much more: the concept and the dimension of the concept have changed, starting with the safety of the population, health security, or other types of security.

The need for security, individual and collective, arises due to the increase of new and complex factors, amplified by communication that now also travels on the Net. What is the role of information today to protect individual and collective security?

The role of information today is fundamental, because with the world of globalization - which we have said not to be flat - communication has taken on the ability to influence elements, in a negative and positive sense. Today we are faced with the use of cyberspace to be able to influence people who also live far away, therefore not only internal communication, but also external. We need a knowledge of the complexity in which we live; reality is complex, but complexity is studied at the University, and three elements are essentially needed to govern it: leadership, communication, network. Communication is one of the pillars of complexity. The leader needs to communicate continuously, to govern the phenomena that develop in a society, which, being complex, are difficult to identify precisely. Therefore, communication turns out to be fundamental; this is why today the field of communication, using what are all means - from social networks, to other means of information -, becomes fundamental. However, to influence it is necessary to describe narratives systematically: that's what, for example, the terrorism, when on the occasion of attacks he goes to tell his own narrative to break through those who are oriented towards that type of ideology. Today the field of communication becomes fundamental: one must always be present but, above all, it is necessary to tell one's story systematically, every day, to describe one's truth and influence the system in the direction in which, of course, one wants it to go - that then, for us, it is the right direction, given that we live in a world where the press is still free.

Precious on national security and the role of communication in a globalized world