In the last few decades, the classical concept of national security as related predominantly to military aspects has given way to new elements of analysis. New sectors and actors in the framework of national security took the stage. Starting from the evolution of the concept of national security, this article presents the modalities through which citizens’ perceptions of security issues have been studied to date. Moreover, it proposes a new approach for the exploration of this subject, which could take into account dimensions such as emotional responses to national security threats, which have been rarely systematically investigated.