The military has always codified its practices and procedures for institutional memory. So why is the Government shy of it and using the CDS to justify it?
It is official now. After a decade of speculation over not whether and when a National Security Strategy (NSS) will be prepared and released, we were told that a written NSS is not needed. India’s second CDS, Gen Anil Chauhan, recently said at India International Centre New Delhi while releasing the book Indian Craft of War, that a National Security Policy, using the term as an alternative to NSS, was not needed in writing. He added: “we have practices and processes in place….otherwise how did we do Article 370; handle COVID; Balakot air strikes…”. A cerebral retired General noted, “it is in the head”. <
That we have gone on for 75 years without NSS does not mean we don’t need one. The strategic ambiguity over not naming adversaries, missions, risks and opportunities is not worth a naya paisa in the contemporary geo-political context.The contradiction is this: in the cradle of strategic thinking, Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, its Commandant, Lt Gen Verinder Vats, regularly underlines the virtues of NSS to his tri-service students. There is no merit in explaining why a written document is necessary, indeed essential.
All democracies, even authoritarian regimes have an NSS or White Paper on defence and security. For starters you can open former COAS Gen MM Naravane’s latest unreleased book, Four Stars of Destiny, to learn of his unenviable predicament in waiting for orders during a grave and critical operational situation on LAC post-Galwan. Tragically, the Indian military has shied away from demanding a White Paper, Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) or any political guidance from the ruling political class. At a recent seminar on national security at New Delhi’s IIC, former NSA Shiv Shankar Menon disclosed categorically that during the UPA regime, a draft NSS was prepared thrice but it never saw the light of day. For Menon’s presentation, the discussant was former defence security NN Vohra, former Governor J&K, and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.