National security concerns continue to dictate government aid and development agendas

August 2010, an internal Department for International Development (DFID) paper was leaked that pointed to a significant shift in Britain’s aid policy. In particular it was muted that development projects would be expected to make the ‘maximum possible contribution’ to British national security. This revelation caused outrage amongst many NGOs. Oxfam, Action Aid, Christian Aid, Save the Children Fund and Cafod responded swiftly, lodging their concerns about national security interests being put at the heard of aid policy in a joint letter to the Guardian newspaper. This reaction was understandable but in some ways surprising – surprising because the links between security and aid have already converged considerably since the events of 9/11. Moreover, these processes of securitising aid were already well underway from the late 1980s onwards in the context of the `New Wars’. What is different from September 2001 onwards is that this securitisation of aid has extended beyond the niche of post-conflict countries to aid and development policy more broadly. By the securitisation of aid we understand the increasing absorption of global and national security interests into the framing, justification, design and implementation of aid and development policies.