Strengthening Britain’s security infrastructure amidst emerging threats

Insights from Government Chief Security Officer & Head of the Government Security Function Vincent Devine

How did an unemployed graduate end up travelling the world, tackling major geopolitical crises, and overseeing the protection of the United Kingdom’s critical infrastructure? A winning combination of hard work, integrity, resilience, and being in the right place at the right time.

It’s not every day that young people are afforded an opportunity to engage with a key figure in Britain’s national security framework, but a recent Cabinet Office Conversations talk provided just that.

Rain-soaked students beelined into the Glasgow University Union’s Dining Hall to hear from UoG alumnus Vincent Devine, the UK Government’s Chief Security Officer and Head of the Government Security Function. 

A three-decade-long career in the Civil Service has seen the Glasgow-native serve on postings in Bosnia, Ukraine, Northern Ireland, and Brussels before joining the Cabinet Office from the Ministry of Defence.     

Speaking with Associate Director of the Centre for Public Policy and discussion moderator, Kezia Dugdale, Mr. Devine shared that his pathway into the Civil Service was neither straightforward nor easy. 

“I was unemployed for four years. It sounds unusual, but it wasn’t unusual for that time in Glasgow…I applied for the Civil Service three times. The first two times I got through the first stage of exams”. Met with two unsuccessful attempts, Mr. Devine was undeterred. 

A third try would see him secure a spot on the Civil Service’s Fast Stream—beginning his journey in the Ministry of Defence’s Defence Procurement Agency, an entity that has since merged with the Defence Logistics Organisation to become Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S).

What started as a desk job would ultimately lead to stints with the United Nations and NATO Peacekeeping Force in the Balkans at the height of the Bosnian War, collaborating with stakeholders to end conflict in the region.

When asked how he was able to successfully transition from military procurement to international security policy, Mr. Devine credited supportive colleagues, perseverance, and a bit of luck.

“I can look back and name the people that were instrumental to my career. Who took the time to teach me things, to talk me through the issues or [lead] by example.” 

A unique skillset and an adaptability in times of uncertainty also contributed to the professional pivot. “In a world where everybody’s learning and there’s new opportunities, you suddenly become one of the experts. So that gave me a big jump for my career.”

Now, as the UK Government’s Chief Security Officer, Mr. Devine is tasked with keeping the country safe from emerging threats, including attacks on crucial infrastructure such as public utilities.

Ms. Dugdale enquired about the Government’s National Cyber Strategy 2022. The report highlighted several gaps in the UK’s cybersecurity capacity, and set targets to remedy these shortfalls by 2025 and 2030. Mr. Devine says the nation is on track to hit its 2030 goals, despite failing to meet all 2025 targets.

“We’ve hardened our systems with a much better understanding of our vulnerabilities.” A new cyber-action plan is set to be published in the coming months.

Addressing emerging hybrid threats, Mr. Devine warns that some states have the ability to launch cyberattacks on a country’s energy systems. He references the April 2025 Ibearian Peninsula blackout, where roughly 60 million people across Spain, Portugal, Andorra and France were left without power. The incident is said to have cost Spain roughly €1.6 billion (£1.4 billion) in damages and economic losses. Officially, the cause of the outage is still under investigation.

“There’s a meaningful risk that we could lose all power to the UK at some point, and it could take five to seven days to return to normality…Those scenarios are really frightening.” Although a national power outage is near the top of his ‘worst case scenario’ list, he’s confident in Britain’s ability to identify and thwart such attacks.

An audience member presented a question about risks associated with government services using third-party companies to process residents’ personal data. Mr. Devine assured the audience that the government’s private sector partners complied with government regulations before reminding the room that if they had used TikTok, owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, then their sensitive personal information was already being accessed by entities outside of the country. 

“If you put TikTok on your phone, the company has the ability to access your wider data to fill out a much better understanding of you—to know who your contacts are, and where you are at any time.”

Should the general population start stocking up on canned goods, installing solar-panels and uninstalling foreign-owned social media apps? Perhaps. 

The Government’s National Risk Register 2025 (NRR) outlines some of the most pressing security challenges facing the UK, identifying 89 acute and chronic risks that can be categorised across nine risk-themes: terrorism, cyber, state threats, geographic and diplomatic, accidents and systems failures, natural and environmental hazards, societal, conflict and instability, and human, animal & plant health.

While TikTok failed to make an appearance, the NRR did underscore the need for diligence when using social media and the proliferation of harmful misinformation generated by artificial intelligence. 

Power outages, on the other hand, were a recurring worry. The NRR made mention of them in the context of conventional attacks, cyberattacks, natural disasters, systems failures, and extreme weather events. 

The document states that the government has comprehensive plans to build resilience to specific risks, including those set out in the NRR. However, no risk assessment will ever be able to identify every possible risk.

Fielding a question about the UK’s role in maintaining international security, Mr. Devine contends that the past twenty-years has witnessed a major shift away from international security in favour of national security issues.

As for the future of the UKs Civil Service? Mr. Devine says that the CS is always looking for new talent, encouraging interested students to work hard and remain hopeful. “Just keep a clear vision.”

(Cabinet Office Conversationswas made possible by the University of Glasgow’s Career, Employability & Opportunities services)