Contributing to UK security policy debates
Professor Frank Gregory, who has particular research interests in the politics of crime and law enforcement, has recently contributed to the work of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), a London based think tank, on politically high profile issues.
Since the Summer of 2008 the IPPR has been running a Commission on National Security for the 21st Century, composed of eminent individuals from various backgrounds, including Lord Paddy Ashdown, former leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and former High Representative in Bosnia, Lord George Roberson, former Defence Secretary and NATO Secretary General and Lord Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. The Commission’s remit has been to prepare an independent national security strategy for the UK, in part as a critique of the Government’s first National Security Strategy (2007) which is due to be published in a revised version in June. The IPPR Commission’s work has been supported by the Cabinet Office’s National Security Secretariat.
As part of this work the IPPR commissioned a number of ‘Expert Briefing Papers.’ Frank contributed an invited briefing paper on UK Border Security: Issues, systems and recent reforms, (London, IPPR, 2009) which he presented to an IPPR Expert Symposium held in London in March, and he subsequently was a key-note speaker at the Cabinet Office-IPPR High Level Conference in April. Since producing that paper Frank has been contacted by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the UK Border Agency about possible lines of research following on from the paper’s conclusions. He has also been invited to give Written and Oral evidence on maritime security matters to the Commons Welsh Affairs Committee in its current inquiry on ‘Ports in Wales’.
Professor Frank Gregory’s report can be found on the Institute for Public Policy Research.