The 21st century has concretised the security needs of society as a whole

The essential factors are the following:
- international terrorism, inter alia the 9/11 terror attack and the attack in Madrid,
- the war in Iraq,
- the floods in Middle Europe and other large scale natural catastrophes,
- extensive electricity cuts in different parts of the world,
- SARS, bird flu and other contagious diseases.

Also in Finland these new security threats have been dealt with in a number of official reports. They have resulted in changes of measures for provision for emergency.