The wide consensus on the need for a new White Paper on defence and national security reflects growing awareness of the many dangers darkening the horizon of the coming decades and underlines how urgent it is to adapt our policies in these areas. To meet its objective, the debate that has begun must be deepened and thus broadly open and free of any preconditions. It will provide the politicians with the elements they need to draw up and implement a defence and security policy that meets our country’s present and future requirements.