[1] In 1999, the National Security Secretariat (NSS) was set up to forge and strengthen inter-agency links through the strategic convergence of these organisations and other relevant government ministries, directing efforts against the emerging threats of non-conventional warfare and transnational terrorism.
[2] With the advent of the terrorist incidents taking place in the United States on 11 September 2001, the NSS was responsible for implementing several ad hoc coordinating arrangements to protect Singapore from subsequent attacks.
The SAF and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) also began parallel efforts to develop measures to counter chemical and biological warfare.
With the SAF, a battalion equivalent of forces commenced development of the CBRE group—Chemical Biological Radiological and Explosives ordnance group, which was rightfully an expansion of its chemical warfare capability.
On 20 July 2004, Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan laid out the case for a new Strategic Framework for national security in Parliament.