The world now is experiencing a spectre of defence and security issues. Incidents such as 11 Sept 2001 had influenced the global security landscape. Malaysia, geographically being a country in the middle of South East Asia region shares her territorial boundaries with seven other nations. The strategic geographical location in South East Asia region and the world security environment consequently influence the future of the nation. The scenario requires Malaysia to have a pragmatic approach towards defence and security policy formulation.

Ministry of Defence is entrusted and duty bound to maintain the nation's sovereignty and stability. Thus, any policy formulated by the Ministry of Defence shall be comprehensive, credible and relevant to the complex scenario of the present and future regional and global security environment.

The complex security environment with multitude of internal and external issues requires the Ministry to have a professional institution which could generate thinking and knowledge sharing based on analytical research and study on defence and security issues. Hence, a Ministry of Defence Brain Storming Workshop on 7 July 2009 decided the need for the Ministry to establish a professional institute named Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security (MiDAS).