Context:

• This article is based on the news “Work starts on shaping first national security strategy, long wait ends” Which was published in the Indian Express. India has set the ball rolling to bring out a National Security Strategy after years of discourse and deliberations within the military and the strategic community.

National Security Strategy – A Holistic Approach to India’s Security Challenges

• The National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) is in the process of collating inputs from several Central ministries and departments to stitch together the draft of the strategy before seeking the final cabinet approval for it.
• The exact contours of the strategy being drafted are not known. Still, it will likely include the entire range of newer challenges and modern threats facing India, including non-traditional ones such as financial and economic security, food and energy security, and information warfare.
• The comprehensive document will consolidate and put together the challenges and threats unique to India and develop strategies to address them in the immediate and near future. This could include earmarking resources, considering the existing internal and global situation.

About National Security Strategy (NSS)

A National Security Strategy lays down the security objectives of a country, defines its internal and external challenges, and provides guidance on how to achieve its national objectives.

• It defines traditional non-traditional threats and opportunities while introducing accountability of agencies tasked with implementing such responsibilities.
• In a nutshell, a national security strategy would guide the military as well as critical defense and security reforms with strategic implications, providing a holistic view of the overall national security, the threats, and the roadmap to address them.

Why does India need a National Security Strategy?

• Need for Formal Security Policies and Frameworks: Not having formal policies increases the risk of making mistakes in our handling of security-related incidents and provides space for an adversary like Pakistan to exploit apparent gaps in our security framework in the misperception that it is unlikely to face due punishment. 
  • For Example: Concept of Jointness in Indian Military: The  Concept of Jointness in Indian Military was universally supported, but each one seems to have a different idea of what it should mean.
    • Some use it as only meaning integration of the uniformed services, others also include jointness between civilians and uniformed personnel. Both are essential and lacking in our present arrangements. 
• Important for military modernization: India needs an NSS to ramp up the pace of military modernization and bring theater commands.  Defense reforms are not taking off because India does not have a National Security Strategy and therefore, no guidance. 
• The Two-Front Threat:  Historically, ever since the late 1960s, from the time China and Pakistan started developing a politico-economic-military relationship with anti-India overtones, there has been a national Security Strategy to tackle the threat.
• Fluid Neighborhood:  Afghanistan’ Taliban regime, Pakistan’s gradual slide towards becoming a ‘failed state’, Sri Lanka’s continued involvement in the vicious Tamilian insurgency and the Myanmar peoples’ nascent movement for democracy, are all symptomatic of an unstable and uncertain security environment in the Southern Asian region.
• National Security Strategy: A Comprehensive Framework for Diplomacy, Strategy, and Deterrence: NSS is the starting point to deal with all security-related matters across diplomacy, strategy, and foreign policy. It not only allows you to see future threats but also to send a message to other nations and deter aggression.
• Information Warfare and the Need for an Integrated Approach: Information warfare is another emerging threat through which, nation-states, non-state actors, individual terrorists, and even disgruntled elements within a state can play havoc with a nation’s telecom, banking, stock exchanges, power grids, besides military communications and networks. 
  • The prevention of large-scale damage through a complex cyber-security system requires  a National Security Strategy.

Also Read: Chanakya Defence Dialogue 2023

What are the challenges involved in drafting a National Security Strategy?

• Balancing Transparency, Deterrence, and Flexibility: According to Rajesh Rajagopalan, professor of international relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India’s hesitancy to release a National Security Strategy document would cause trouble with potential adversaries by revealing India’s position, and with partners by hurting strategic flexibility.
  • It will signal to both friends and foes where India stands on particular issues.
• Revealing  India’s Strategic Ambiguity: India shied from defining an NSS as the government wanted to “avoid having to respond in a specific manner.
• Impacting Bilateral Ties: If India were to state that it aimed to reduce its dependence on military imports from Russia as part of NSS, this would hurt New Delhi’s relationship with long-time ally Moscow. 
• Accountability: In addition, the Centre may fear the accountability this could bring since a national security strategy would identify the red lines, which, if breached, would necessitate action by the government. 
  • For Example, Amid the India-China military stand-off in 2020 along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, a military response would become unavoidable if an aggressor violates the limits of a scenario defined in the national security strategy.
  • If the strategy is defined, the government would be forced to act accordingly when a security contingency arises, which it may not be able to.
• Differing Views: Besides, framing a security doctrine may also be difficult considering the differing views held by various government departments.

Way Forward

• National Security Strategy Guidance: For Military-Related External Threats 
  • Maintain credible military deterrence against potential adversaries. 
  • Defend our national and territorial interests on land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace.
  • Physical guarding and/or surveillance of land, air, and maritime borders, island territories, off-shore assets, and trade routes, especially disputed borders, for early detection of intrusions or any threats. 
  • Maintain a tri-service rapid response capability to respond to security challenges during war and peace. 
  •  Ensure a fool-proof and well-coordinated intelligence mechanism to provide early warning of threats, both external and internal. 
  • Prevent attacks in the cyber and information domains against own defense and civilian networks and capabilities.
• National Security Strategy Guidance: For Internal Security Threats
  • Maintain close surveillance and monitoring of the internal security situation in areas of heightened threat. 
  • Maintain rapid response capability against terror strikes/ hostage taking, involving multiple agencies, both police and military, including the National Security Guard (NSG) and Special Forces (SF).
  • Neutralize anti-Indian efforts/propaganda by potential adversaries/ inimical elements. ƒ Promote/protect diaspora interests in the region and the world.
  • Protect national interests against internal threats like terrorism (including nuclear terrorism), insurgency, and militancy to negate secessionist and related destabilizing efforts.

Also Read: India Army adoption of AI in defence for Comprehensive Surveillance and Strategic Security

Conclusion:

The formulation of India’s National Security Strategy is a crucial step towards addressing a spectrum of challenges, both traditional and non-traditional, providing a comprehensive framework to guide military, diplomatic, and security initiatives for the nation’s holistic defense and well-being.