Don't divide NSA's post: Narayanan

The outgoing National Security Advisor (NSA) has an advice for the government: Don’t bifurcate the post and don’t appoint someone who’s retired only recently.

Speaking at the Army Day function in New Delhi, MK Narayanan, who began his stint in the first United Progressive Alliance government as internal security adviser, said he had done both the jobs and believed the bifurcation was artificial.

These days, internal and external security were intimately linked, he said.

Narayanan said the person occupying the NSA’s post needed to bring gravitas and detachment to the job. Asked if he had made recommendations about his successor, he said the matter had not come up. But, he said, he had been out of the government for several years before he was brought back. This had its advantages, he said.

Shiv Shankar Menon retired as foreign secretary mid last year, Shyam Saran, currently an envoy of the prime minister, was Menon’s predecessor over two years ago.

Top government sources said in 2004, former foreign secretary JN Dixit was appointed NSA while Narayanan was internal security adviser to the prime minister, rather than the government.

The context has changed since then. With Home Minister P Chidambaram having proposed wide reforms in the internal security structure, including creation of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) by the end of 2010, what will be the relationship between NSA and NCTC? It is not entirely clear but Chidambaram believes having a national security adviser (internal) is better.