Resilience Must Be Built Before a Crisis

A major cyberattack. A prolonged power outage. A supply disruption. Is our country truly prepared to cope?

We talk a great deal about defence, security, and sovereignty. But a country’s resilience also depends, very concretely, on its ability to keep functioning when a crisis strikes.

A hospital must be able to treat patients. A local authority must continue providing essential services. A business must be able to operate. Citizens must have access to water, energy, and other indispensable services.

None of this can be improvised on the day a crisis breaks out.

In July 2025, France updated its National Strategic Review. Among its priorities were strengthening national resilience and ensuring the continuity of vital functions.

The General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN) also set out two priorities: safeguarding vital functions and enabling every citizen to play a role in national resilience.

These objectives are essential. But between a national strategy and its implementation on the ground lies a major challenge: operational preparedness.

Have we identified our most critical dependencies? Planned backup solutions? Tested our business continuity plans? Prepared coordination between central government, local authorities, and businesses?

These questions should be central to public policy and to the governance of our organizations.

Resilience is not just about knowing how to manage a crisis. It is about making the decisions beforehand that will limit its consequences when it occurs.

In a world of multiplying threats, this capacity to anticipate has become an essential condition of our sovereignty.

The best crisis management begins long before the crisis itself.

Sources: SGDSN, National Strategic Review 2025 (14 July 2025); National Resilience Strategy, guidance for local authorities (21 July 2025).

Illustration generated using artificial intelligence.