P Chidambaram, the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) has finally received an “in-principle approval” from the union cabinet committee on security (CCS).
Nearly three years after it was envisaged by union home minister P Chidambaram, the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) finally received an “in-principle approval” from the union cabinet committee on security (CCS). But a hesitant CCS did not go along with the home minister and cleared a smaller organisation than the one that was originally envisaged.
In December 2009, Chidambaram had unveiled a “bold, thorough and radical restructuring of the security architecture at the national level”, proposing to bring several existing agencies under one roof for counter terrorism. In the original plan he wanted several agencies like the NTRO, the NIA, the NSG and Natgrid to come under one roof.
Chidambaram came up with the idea of NCTC after studying counter terrorism efforts in the US and the UK in the wake of the 26/11 terrorist attacks on Mumbai.
But on Thursday, the CCS was quite clear that agencies such as the NTRO and the NSG would continue as separate entities and instead of creating a new organisation, it would be truncated into the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Instead of a full-fledged director, it will now have a special director who will report to the IB director and the union home secretary. For further expansion, the home ministry will have to go back to the CCS for approvals on a case-by-case basis.
“A beginning has been made and we will have to build more safeguards and processes before we can build it up,” Chidambaram told DNA. He also pointed out that the core team will be put in place and the work will be started immediately. “This core group will be the nucleus and the multi-agency centre that was coordinating intelligence will now be subsumed into the NCTC,” he said.
The NCTC, sources said, will have the mandate to seek information from all other agencies and translate the processed information into actionable intelligence capable of securing tangible end results. To ensure smooth and round the clock uninterrupted functioning even during worst case scenarios, the NCTC will be housed in four to five floors underground and able to withstand a terror attack.
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