*5.1. First Tier: Enduring Operational Beliefs*

The first tier is the operational presumptions embedded in the state's security thinking on the relations between religion and security. Which national interests are dictated by the religious identity of the state? How does religion influence the enemy's behavior? Which relations between religion and state most secure the state or the regime? The answers decisionmakers of the same country give to these questions are relatively similar over time, for two reasons. First, they are informed by the state's political ideology and religious history. Second, they are internalized by states' organs that have high organizational memories, such as the security apparatus and the diplomatic service, which recommend them to changing heads of states.

These relatively enduring operational perceptions determine how decisionmakers assess security situations which have religious characteristics, such as those involving sacred sites or actors with di fferent religious agendas. If those situations involve an actor capable of endangering an interest derived from the regime's particular religious identity or jeopardizing the equilibrium between di fferent religious groups in the state, they would be interpreted as a threat to national security. Most actors posing a "religion threat" to the security of the regime operate under an agenda of religion, as in the case of Islamist terrorism on Israel. Yet it can also come from actors with a secular ideology, who have a position on religion or from certain religious groups. For example, far-right ideologies, targeting Jews and Muslims, can cause an outbreak of inter-religious hostilities in the country. Hence the need to talk of a *religion* threat to national security, rather than a *religious* threat to national security.
