Look at the news headlines or most current affairs social media feeds, and one thing becomes clear: security increasingly dominates public attention. Across countries, people and leaders appear more concerned about immediate threats and current uncertainties than looking a little ahead to anticipating and managing risks and investing in development opportunities. 

At UNDP Asia and the Pacific, we set out to explore security from a development perspective, grounded in the realities, experiences and practices emerging from our work across the region. What could it tell us about this divergence? 

Central to our analysis in the new report, Redefining Security: Development Circuit Breakers for a More Secure World, is that today's security threats require new approaches to anticipating, preventing and managing multiple domestic and transboundary challenges. Many of the so-called security risks shaping Asia and the Pacific are rooted in unresolved development challenges, including injustices, that continue to undermine resilience, shake stability and erode trust. 

I would like to borrow a parallel from artificial intelligence: alignment. At its core, alignment is about ensuring that AI systems and agents remain guided by human interests and objectives. Recent AI incidents have shown risks of misalignment, when the incentives and behaviors of these systems begin to diverge from the outcomes people actually want and need. 

There may be a parallel in how we approach security. Rising investments in security do not automatically translate into greater security for people. When the conditions that underpin stability and resilience are neglected, more security spending can coexist with deeper insecurity. In other words, security investments and security outcomes can become misaligned. How do we ensure that investments address the root causes of insecurity in ways that ultimately make societies safer, more resilient and more prosperous? This is where a development focus must be centered, as we argue in this report. 

Global military expenditure continues to rise, reaching nearly $2.9 trillion in 2025, as wars and armed conflicts have increased. In 2010, there were approximately 30 armed conflicts worldwide. Today, according to the 2026 International Committee of the Red Cross Humanitarian Outlook, there are around 130 armed conflicts, the highest number since the Second World War.  

At the same time, many of the insecurities people experience in their daily lives are deepening. In Asia and the Pacific, some 1.3 billion informal workers still lack savings, insurance or social protection. Trust in institutions is declining. Large parts of the digital space remain ungoverned, and online criminal economies in Asia and the Pacific are estimated at $1.03 trillion annually, causing $114.1 billion in losses to victims of cybercrime in 2025. Meanwhile, climate-related disasters and health shocks are increasing loss and vulnerability across the region. 

We seldom think about the circuit breakers in our homes. A circuit breaker matters most when something goes wrong. It prevents a small fault from triggering a much larger failure. The same principle applies to security. The report identifies four development "circuit breakers" that strengthen societies' ability to absorb shocks and reduce vulnerability: governance and institutional legitimacy, digital system integrity, economic security, and climate and health resilience. Each is detailed in the report. 

If there is one take-away from the report, it is that societies do not have to choose between security and development. Lasting security depends on investing in both, but doing so differently. Investing where it is a win-win translated into capabilities that make societies more resilient and able to anticipate risks and prevent crises, or at least minimize the disruption and destruction by bringing these circuit breakers into play.  

With shocks becoming more frequent, intense and systemic, it is also about preserving development gains and investing in the capabilities needed to recover, adapt and stabilize. The nature of today's crises, reflected in these four circuit breakers, makes it clear that simply expanding strictly security sector interventions will not be enough. To build a shared understanding of risks and responsibilities for addressing their underlying drivers, security and development actors would need to work together to optimize those win-win solutions that demonstrate progress on both fronts. The analysis and illustrations present some of these practices across finance, development planning, regulatory and security institutions. 

Financial decisions taken today will shape how secure societies are in the decades ahead. Rethinking development finance so that it mirrors the interconnected nature of today's risks across economic, social, digital and governance systems, means becoming more organized and structured around managing risk and this makes prevention politically rewarding.  

The role of finance ministers, local governments, digital regulators, development banks and other financing institutions will become increasingly important in determining which investments deliver the greatest and most lasting security outcomes. Prevention as a central criterion for allocating public resources would be guided by evidence on exposure, vulnerability and potential losses.  

Trust is the critical link between development and security. In an increasingly interconnected world, where risks routinely cross borders, the effectiveness and value of investments in both development and security can be assessed through the lens of how they strengthen social trust. Building that trust begins with recognizing that the development and security communities can no longer operate in their separate spheres if to address the uber complex challenges of our time. 

I invite you to read this report and share it with partners, including those in the security and defense community who may not immediately see its direct relevance to their work. With a reminder that one needs these circuit brakers in place. For, while a circuit breaker only matters when the lights go out; its timely presence and intervention prevents a small disruption from becoming a larger explosion. This is true for development and for security. By strengthening the shared foundations of resilience, trust and opportunity, development and security outcomes can be realigned in ways that create benefits for both, where one-plus-one is way beyond two!