M K Narayanan, special advisor to the Prime Minister, has been appointed National Security Advisor (NSA). With this ends the speculation about who would get the job, which fell vacant when J N Dixit passed away unexpectedly. | |
| The new incumbent, however, will have to see his role very differently from that played by either Mr Dixit or his predecessor, Brajesh Misra. |
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| Certainly, this seems to be what the Prime Minister expects of him: to develop the institution of a proper National Security Council (NSC). |
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| Until now, neither NSA had seen the need for creating this institutional support system""thanks partly to the laid-back approach of Atal Bihari Vajpayee (under whom Mr Misra served) and because Mr Dixit saw himself as a latter-day Henry Kissinger and had the same tendency to freelance outside the formal framework. |
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| In practical terms, this meant personalising what should have been an institutional structure, and concentrated power in people who had ready access to the Prime Minister. |
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| Two unintended consequences were the emasculation of the Joint Intelligence Committee, which had been set up several decades ago to co-ordinate intelligence in respect of short-term security threats, and tension with the ministry of external affairs (both Mr Misra and Mr Dixit were retired diplomats who could not resist the temptation to meddle in things that were not their concern). |
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| The NSC, correctly perceived, should evaluate security issues by performing a coordinating role between the different ministries, and the NSA should oversee this as well as handle immediate crises as the Prime Minister's point man. |
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| The Cabinet Committee on Security is no substitute for such a council and adviser, since it seems to be concerned mainly with expenditure decisions and not, as is commonly thought, with short- or long-term security issues. |
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| In other words, if properly structured and handled, the creation of an NSC with an NSA as its nodal point should not come in the way of the Cabinet system, which relies on ministerial responsibility. |
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| Security threats over the medium- and long-term can arise from a variety of sources, but mainly military, economic and political (both domestic and foreign). |
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| Being able to tackle these requires forewarning, which in turn requires serious research conducted by teams of professionals, scenario planning, interpretation of intelligence, and the drawing up of action plans for crisis situations""with the ministries concerned being actively involved. |
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| The first decisions towards such an institutionalised structure appear to have been taken: Mr Narayanan is likely to have two or three deputies and a properly staffed secretariat. |
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| Their job will be to peer into the future and identify the likely sources from which threats to national security may arise. Since such a task cannot be performed by civil servants alone, it must be hoped that all qualified Indians will be consulted. |
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