Prabhu for an institution to assess future strategic threats

Union Minister Suresh Prabhu today advocated for creation of an institution which could assess "strategic threats" that the country is going to face in the next few years.
He also said that state's role in foreign policy and security issues of the country is "greater than envisaged" and there was a need for engaging more with states.
"What we need in India first of all is a Strategic Threat Assessment Institution. We need an institution in India which will actually assess, in the next 10-15 years time frame, what strategic threats India is going to have," the Railway minister said.

He was speaking at a roundtable on 'National Security: The Key Challenges Ahead For India' organised by The Indian Council of World Affairs in collaboration with The Tribune Group of Newspapers.
"I do not know whether we have an institution which really looks into that...Once you have assessed those threats, then we can come back and find out the type of response mechanism we need to address this," he said.
Prabhu said that there may be a number of people working in different universities, private and other sectors who can contribute to this assessment about strategic threats that India is going to have in the next few years.

Although foreign policy and defence come under the purview of the Centre, greater engagement is required with the states on these issues as they deal with the situation (states having international borders) on a day to day basis, the Union minister said.
"...We should not forget the fact that states are far more important as they deal with the situation (states having international borders) on a day to day basis... State's role in this entire foreign policy and security issues is far greater than what we envisaged ever. Therefore we need to engage with them," he said.
Prabhu stressed on the fact that states "must" also be able to work with the central government in a way that there should be one single authority dealing with national security issues.