HONOLULU -- The United States has become acutely aware of "new security threats" since 9/11. Transnational terrorism does not fit neatly within the mind-set that has guided U.S. national security thinking throughout the 20th century. The move to create a homeland security department is proof of the need for a new approach in this field.
East Asian security planners have long grappled with such nontraditional threats. For most of the postwar era, their chief concern has been internal instability rather than explicit external threats. They have focused on the sources of domestic unrest -- which is, unfortunately, an ever-lengthening list. When those governments look beyond their borders, they have discovered that unregulated population movements, drug-trafficking and transnational gangs, to name a few, take precedence over overt military threats from neighbors. (Of course, they are not blind to arms acquisitions and defense modernization. Still, clashes between states are considered a low probability.)
One of the most slippery elements of this "extended security" paradigm is the relationship between the environment and security. In the abstract, it's easy to see a connection between the two. States have gone to war over contested resources such as water, fishing grounds or energy rights. But the real nexus is much wider.