The silent enemy redefines security for a world beyond the battlefield

A timely book by Arvind Gupta and Rajesh Singh expands the idea of national security beyond the military to include climate, technology, and economic vulnerabilities

The Silent Enemy: Non-traditional Challenges to National Security

By Arvind Gupta and Rajesh Singh

Published by INK

445 pages  ₹899

 

During the Cold War, the idea of “national security” was usually narrowly viewed through a politico-military prism. That understanding has now evolved, say Arvind Gupta and Rajesh Singh in this co-authored book. Mr Gupta is a former diplomat and currently director of the Vivekananda International Foundation. He was earlier deputy national security adviser and headed the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. He is one of the foremost scholars on national security and foreign policy. Mr Singh is a veteran journalist, author and media adviser on political and security matters. 

The authors point out that Operation Sindoor marked a turning point in the evolution of India’s national security criteria, while the Pahalgam terrorist attack compelled a deeper recalibration of India’s threat assessment. Keeping India’s concerns in the backdrop the book invites readers to examine the non-traditional threats caused by disruptions in finance, food, water, health, energy, climate change, technology as well as from terrorism and organised crime and so on. 

The title of the book The Silent Enemy aptly captures the listless attitude at the policy level that tends to treat these issues as secondary. The authors lament this lackadaisical approach, since security and development are two sides of the same coin. They call for an integrated approach, an understanding implicit in the classical writings of the Arthashastra that lays emphasis on the King’s duty to ensure yogakshama (welfare) and govern according to dharma (rule of law). In contrast, the West views national security from the angle of human rights and freedoms. This perspective gave birth to a draconian UN resolution: “the responsibility to protect” (R2P), which, in turn, created a dangerous crevice for justifying external intervention. 

The book alerts readers to the weaponisation of geo-economics through tariffs, sanctions and export restrictions. The deliberate disruption of energy supply chains is a familiar adage; in 1973, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) used it against those supporting Israel and the 1990 Gulf War was all about US control over oil. The imposition of additional tariffs by the US and sanctions by the European Union for buying discounted Russian oil is a grim reminder of our vulnerabilities. The suggestion that India enhance the ratio of renewables in the energy mix may not be a silver bullet but can have a mitigating effect. 

Food security is a critical factor for social stability. Its causal link was amply clear during the Arab Spring when, in Tunisia, high food prices triggered popular outrage with a contagion effect across the Arab world. Although India has achieved self-sufficiency through the Green Revolution, it is still vulnerable to food inflation. Meanwhile, conflicts over water pose security challenges; Asia and Africa account for about 80 per cent of the intra-country conflicts. For India, cross-border disputes over the Indus waters and the Brahmaputra have sharpened security concerns. 

Maritime security should naturally form part of a nation’s strategic calculus. This assertion is in sync with the 19th century US naval officer and historian Alfred Thayer Mahan’s belief: “Whoever rules the waves rules the world”. India can ill afford to ignore this imperative given its 75,000 sq km-long coastline and about 2.3 million sq km Economic Export Zone. The Indian Ocean is also a major artery of global trade with about 60,000 ships passing through it every year, carrying 50 per cent of world trade and 75 per cent of energy supplies. India’s SAGAR policy, launched in 2015, aims to achieve a secure, stable and prosperous Indian Ocean Region in cooperation with its neighbours. However, the authors’ recommendations miss an essential strategy — that of enhancing economic stakes for neighbours in the initiative to make maritime security enduring. 

The importance of technological autonomy has been highlighted in the book, underlining the importance of rising investment in research and development (R&D) from the current low of 0.6 per cent of gross domestic product. Skilling forms a logical corollary of this approach, especially for a country like ours where nearly 12 million graduates enter the job market every year. 

The authors draw attention to the contagion effect of financial crises — for example, the 2008 global financial crisis was triggered by the sub-prime lending rates in the US. The growing inequalities within and across nations, especially in the Global South, can cause unrest. Nobel laureate Thomas Piketty suggests finding alternatives to dollar usage such as trade settlement in national currencies. In this, India could assist the Global South with its low-cost solutions under its Digital Public Infrastructure programme. 

The authors lay emphasis on building soft power diplomacy to complement the nation’s hard power tools, especially if they are aligned with national security objectives. India’s projection of cultural attributes in the spirit of Vasudeva Kutumbakam, they observe, can be effective in influencing outcomes and countering deep fakes and false narratives in the age of artificial intelligence. 

The book makes compelling reading for all those interested in understanding the multidimensional aspects of national security and the need to tackle them in a forthright and realistic manner, which hinges on good governance and whole-of-government approach. 

The reviewer is retired IFS officer   dammuravi@gmail.com