As particular problems of society cease to be a threat, the experts, bureaucrats and institutions dependent on the funding allocated in response to those threats find themselves under pressure to invent new threats, or new variants on old threats, in order to ensure their survival.
In 1990, this issue emerged as a consequence of the reduction in world tensions and associated defence budgets. It also occurs with the dismantling of any security system, whether a network of informers or in any form of demobilization.