A task force set up by the PM to look into national security has recommended the same radical measures, which a group of ministers had said about 10 years ago after the Kargil War.
A task force set up by the prime minister to look into national security has recommended the same radical measures, which a group of ministers had said about 10 years ago after the Kargil War.
The report, which was submitted to Manmohan Singh, on Wednesday night, has recommended the creation of a permanent post of chairman, Chiefs of Staff committee, on the lines of the US military, that would provide single-point advice to the government.
The committee has also asked for the appointment of an “Intelligence Adviser” to assist the National Security Advisor (NSA) and a National Intelligence Board to coordinate intelligence at the highest levels.
The task force also wants the government to create a separate Special Operations Command, similar to the one in the US that was behind the attack on Osama Bin Laden at Abbottabad, Pakistan. The special forces are not being used to their full potential, according to the report. A separate command under the Chiefs of Staff Committee would ensure they are used for strategic gains.
The task force wants an integrated security plan every five years that would take a holistic view of present and future threats and keep all plans updated.
The force felt that having a national security doctrine that would look at internal security threats as well as external would link it to broader national political goals.
The force, headed by former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra, had been set up to review India’s defence preparedness, intelligence reforms and to set the foundation for a national security doctrine. The force sought wide-ranging views and detailed presentations from the three armed forces chiefs, the three intelligence chiefs and a number of strategic experts.
But the recommendations continue to echo the group of minister’s (GoM) report that was prepared in 2002 during the NDA government. Many of those recommendations are still pending or have been discontinued by the UPA government.
The recommendation for a permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee is the same as the creation of a Chief of Defence Staff recommended in 2002. The proposed National Intelligence Board sounds like a repeat of the Strategic Policy Group and the Intelligence Coordination Group that was set up after the GoM’s report was accepted.
Also, just like the GoM, the task force too wants a National Defence University to be set up that would serve as a major strategic think tank. This proposal has been in the cold storage for almost 10 years now.
Keeping in mind the current suspicion between the civilian bureaucracy and the armed forces, the task force has suggested the deputation of army, navy and air force officers with a rank equivalent to that of a middle-level director to the defence ministry.
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