OPINION | National Security Delay a Risk

In national security, threats rarely arrive suddenly. They accumulate. They adapt. They exploit gaps.

By the time they are visible, they are already embedded.

Recent warnings that Fiji could, within a few years, begin to resem­ble a “narco-state” should not be dismissed as alarmist. Whether or not one agrees with the term, the underlying concern is real. The scale and frequency of illicit drug seizures, the growing sophistica­tion of trafficking networks, and the pressure on law enforcement point to a system under strain.

This is not simply a policing issue. It is a national security challenge.

Drug trafficking operates across borders, financial systems, and communities. It intersects with corruption, organised crime, youth vulnerability, and international networks. Once established, it is difficult to dismantle. It erodes in­stitutions gradually — first at the margins, then at the centre.

The question is not whether Fiji faces this risk. The indicators con­firm it does.

Public documents

The more important question is whether Fiji is responding with the urgency the situation requires.

Last year, Cabinet endorsed a Na­tional Security Strategy that was informed by the National Security and Defence Review. Both docu­ments – they are public documents - identified not only the threats Fiji faces, but the structural and capa­bility gaps that must be addressed to manage them.

The most fundamental of these is governance.

At present, responsibility for na­tional security is dispersed across multiple agencies — Defence, Po­lice, Immigration, Customs, and others — each with defined roles, but without a single coordinating authority at the centre of govern­ment. The result is a system that is fragmented, reactive, and often reliant on informal coordination rather than structured decision-making.

This is not a reflection on the pro­fessionalism of individual agencies. It is a question of system design.

Modern security challenges do not respect institutional boundaries. Drug trafficking, for example, inter­sects with maritime surveillance, border management, financial in­telligence, policing, and interna­tional cooperation. Without a cen­tral mechanism to integrate these efforts, gaps emerge. Information is not shared in time. Responses are delayed. Accountability becomes unclear.

The National Security Strategy recognised this. Its first recommen­dation was to establish a National Security Council, supported by a senior officials’ committee, to pro­vide clear leadership and whole-of-government coordination.

Capacity shortfalls

Yet this remains unimplemented.

Alongside this governance gap sit critical capability shortfalls.

The absence of a national intelli­gence coordination mechanism — a “fusion centre” at the apex of gov­ernment — means that intelligence remains siloed across agencies. Without integration and analysis at the national level, early warning is weakened and strategic decision-making is impaired.

Similarly, the lack of a national security vetting framework ex­poses government to insider risk. In an era of organised crime, cy­ber threats, and foreign interfer­ence, protecting people, property, information, and reputation is not optional. It is fundamental. At its core, this is about trust — trust that institutions are secure and resil­ient.

Other priorities remain outstand­ing. Fiji’s geography demands an integrated maritime security strat­egy. The promotion of social cohe­sion is equally critical, recognising that social fragmentation can be exploited by criminal networks and external actors alike.

These are not isolated reforms. They are components of a single system.

Yet progress in implementing them has stalled.

A senior military spokesman re­cently described this as a lack of “political will”. That is a serious assessment. Because national secu­rity is not strengthened by strate­gies alone. It is strengthened by de­cisions — and by the willingness to act on them decisevly..

Time, in this context, is not neu­tral.

Every delay allows criminal net­works to entrench themselves fur­ther. Every gap in coordination or capability creates space for exploi­tation. Every missed reform in­creases systemic vulnerability.

The risk is not an abrupt collapse. It is a gradual erosion — of institu­tional integrity, of public trust, and of the state’s ability to maintain control.

This is how narco-states emerge. Not overnight, but over time.

Fiji still has a window to act. The roadmap exists. The vulnerabilities are known. The solutions have been identified.

The question is whether there is a will to implement them before the risks they are designed to address become entrenched realities.

Because in the contest of national security, delay is not neutral. It is risk

• The Author, security expert Jim Sanday led Fiji’s National Security & Defence Review (NSDR) in 2024 and co-authored the National Security Strategy (NSS), which was approved by the Fiji Government in June 2025.