22 May 2014

Wanted: A National Security Commission

Lt Gen SS Mehta

The other models

The NSC in the US is chaired by the President. Its regular attendees (both statutory and non-statutory) are the Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs

The National Security Council of the United Kingdom is a Cabinet Committee tasked with overseeing all issues related to national security, intelligence coordination, and defence strategy.

China may be the ‘new kid on the block’ in dealing with holistic national security but are fast, determined and focused learners. President Xi Jinping has recently presided over the first meeting of the recently established National Security Commission.

THE earlier article established that India does not in effect have a National Security Policy and has, as a result, bled consistently for almost 70 years without seriously attempting to staunch the bleeding. On the contrary, instead of seeking solutions or studying the models of successful countries in this upper-end seriously nation-building enterprise, we have adopted a peculiarly Indian escapism where we philosophically rationalise, even laud a patented propensity for inaction and comatose, sleep-walking stratagem in which "No decision" in itself becomes typified as a "decision" and thereby the subject of much insipid appreciation.
Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi
US President Barack Obama
Chinese President Xi Jinping
UK Premier David Cameron

It is instructive to study some examples of how others deal with issues of national security. First the US. The NSC in the US is chaired by the President. Documents state its regular attendees (both statutory and non-statutory) are the Vice-President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the statutory military advisor to the Council and the Director of National Intelligence is the Intelligence Advisor. The Chief of Staff to the President, Counsel to the President and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy are invited to attend any NSC meeting. The Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget are invited to attend meetings pertaining to their responsibilities. The heads of other executive departments and agencies, as well as other senior officials, are invited to attend meetings of the NSC when it is considered appropriate.

China’s example

Let us take the example of China. They may be the "new kid on the block" in dealing with holistic national security but are fast, determined and focused learners. When President Xi Jinping presided over the first meeting of the recently established National Security Commission, his prescient remarks suggested that the commission would have the power to reach into nearly every aspect of domestic and foreign policy. Plans for the commission were approved at a Communist Party leadership meeting in November 2013. The state news media reported that President Xi at the very first meeting of the National Security Commission laid out its policy ambit. This not just indicated that President Xi had come fully prepared and done his homework but also that that he had a wide-ranging and inter-linked charter for the commission, embracing both external and domestic issues. "Nowadays, the denotations and connotations of national security for our country are more profuse than they have ever been at any period of history in the past", he opined. Mr Xi went on to add that "the domestic and external factors (in China) are more complex than at any time in history, and we must adhere to a comprehensive view of national security." The President could not have put the national security conundrum in a better and more forward looking perspective.

It would be instructive for India to study how countries such as the US, UK and China deal with issues of national security and their organisation set-ups.

A look at the United Kingdom is equally revealing. The National Security Council of the United Kingdom is a Cabinet Committee tasked with overseeing all issues related to national security, intelligence coordination, and defence strategy. The NSC was established in 2010 by Prime Minister David Cameron. The Council coordinates responses to threats faced by the United Kingdom and integrating at the highest level, the work of relevant government entities with respect to national security. The council is chaired by the Prime Minister and has the deputy PM, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the secretary of state for foreign and Commonwealth affairs, the secretaries of state for defence, home, international development, energy and climate change, the chief secretary, and the minister for government policy as its members. In addition, other government ministers, senior officials, military and intelligence officers, and civil servants attend as necessary. The Leader of the Opposition is an attendee on an occasional, "as-required" basis. The point is made. India can no longer take recourse to obtuse and abstract philosophical meanderings. Instead, there is an irrefutable case for setting up a National Security Commission (NSC) to make up for the void created by chronically dysfunctional structures which have failed us time and again.

The proposed NSC should be a unique non-statutory body suited to meet our specific and peculiar needs and aspirations. The Prime Minister should be the ex officio Chairman. It should have a Deputy Chairman, who is given the rank of a full Cabinet Minister. The current CCS ministers, including the HRD Minister (human resource is the key to security), should act as ex officio members of the Commission and the Leader of the Opposition should be an invitee. The NSA should be the secretary of the NSC within the PMO and supported by a skeleton staff to monitor the recommendations of the CCS. Its full-time members should be renowned experts from disciplines like internal security, external security, nuclear, defence economics, defence production, science, technology and research, manufacturing (public and private), international relations, human resource development, water, energy, environment, health, national defence including coastal security, media, space, and cyber space. This group should replace parts of the NSCS as it is configured today. Stringent entry qualifications must apply; not the least the expert’s ability to display macro-vision about the strategic space that defines India’s peculiar security and defence problems. They must think and act integrated; create rare synergy and deliver output that makes the country and the world sit up and take notice. The Commission should work through three divisions — The policy, integration and implementation divisions. The NSC's recommendations must be funnelled through the CCS. After CCS approval, the proposals should be put through Parliamentary oversight and approval. All NSC activities must be placed on a strict time and activity continuum.

The new NSC, when formed, will have to break existing silos of sloth and resistance, be credible, ensure synergy between various stakeholders, give every component a hearing, debate policy, and ensure that no single individual or a vested group hijacks policy. The policy should be outcome driven. In brief, it should get its message across to the citizens, the neighbours, and the rest of the world.

Citizens’ right to know

Every citizen has a right to know where we stand on the national security scene. There is much that can and should be shared. The days of stand-alone planning are passé. The former PM in his farewell address to the Planning Commission said, "Are we still using tools and approaches, which were designed for a different era? Have we added on new functions and layers without any restructuring of the more traditional activities in the Commission?" By his remarks he acknowledged, that we need more than just a Planning Commission, and even what the Planning Commission does is caught in a time warp.

A warning is mandated here; a grim reminder. In the pre-British rule era, we were a fractured and feudal polity. The British cannily and successfully practised divide and rule over us during their 150- odd years of rule. Left free to do our own thing, the million-dollar question was the form governance would take after Independence. What really unfolded after the euphoria of freedom began losing its novelty was that almost inadvertently, vested interest groups mushroomed.

Multiple power centres

A power ladder emerged. Today's India is a complex mosaic of power centres, linked by scores of narrow-minded interest groups, constantly wrestling and jostling for their place in the sun. Those who have manoeuvred well, try to retain their status. Those who lost out resort to intrigue, perpetually scheming to get status and those who are left out, look for mentors who can help them on their way up. The lobbies, the fights, the vested interests, are well documented and require no elaboration. What is unedifying to recall is that efforts to address the problems we face have turned out to be worse that the problems they were required to address and resolve.

The NSC should have stipulated terms of reference. These can be spelt out, however, space constraints preclude the listing of these for now. The NSC should place equal emphasis on our capabilities to operate throughout the spectrum of traditional and non-traditional threats to National Security.

(To be continued).

The writer, Lt Gen SS Mehta retired as the Western Army Commander. Post retirement he has served as DG, Confederation of Indian Industry and as a member of the National Security Advisory Board.


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