Editorial 1:India needs a ‘National Security Strategy’

Context

It needs to bring together diverse aspects such as defence and finance into a coherent whole; however, this is an exercise that needs to be conducted quietly.

Introduction

The demand for a national security strategy is again under public discussion as the neighbourhood gets into a flux, old enemies muscle up, and new friends are yet to commit themselves. India’s economic ambitions to be a $4 trillion economy, is also likely to also face strong headwinds as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza continue, dragging down global growth. The economy is really the key to everything else. After all, everyone wants a slice of the economic pie, from the Ministry of Health to the Ministry of Defence. That means prioritisation within rather scarce resources, and that is the key to national security strategy making. 

Interpreting the term

• Multiple connotations of the term security: For such an exercise, one has to first decide what comes under the umbrella term of ‘national security’. The problem is it means different things to different states, at different times. 
• Importance Union For the United States: it once centred around a ‘union of our values and national interests’.
  • That means you can stand up as the most powerful democracy, even while supporting a clutch of dictators for economic gain.
  • Joe Biden’s National Security Strategy (NSS) mentions ‘values’ 29 times, it is centred around the need to maintain America’s leadership role. That means money.
  • The U.S. NSS is the starting point for a host of other documents such as the Defence Department’s National Defense Strategy, and, thereafter, the ‘Posture’ document of each service. Then comes budgeting, where funds are sanctioned by Congress.

Power Projection in National Security Strategies

• Extremal objectives: It is aimed to put the fear of god into such newly rising upstarts as China, and,
• Internal objectives: To project strength and determination to voters. Its public documents, therefore, showcase its capabilities, and sometimes exaggerate it.
• Case of The United Kingdom: which still sees itself as a global power, used an Integrated Review in 2021 that stressed working together with allies for a global role. It can hardly afford aircraft for its carriers, but it still helps to project oneself as a “European power with global interests”.
• Case of the President Emmanuel Macron of France: the 2022 review arose from the break out of the Ukraine war, and a restatement of French nuclear deterrent.

 

Now, multi-alignment

• Disconnect in speeches and securities: Budget speeches make no reference at all to the ‘enemy’ outside or within. Indeed, they hardly even mention defence. While it is accepted that the protection of sovereignty and territorial integrity lies at the heart of national security.
• Importance of economic strength: Every Finance Minister is well aware that a strong economy is also aimed at an ability to retain sovereignty in international relations.
  • Poor nations have to trail after the powerful ones, or form their own groupings.
• Shift from the non- aligned movement: once ‘core value’ has been jettisoned given the need to defend itself against a belligerent eastern neighbour of highly unequal economic strength, even while not appearing to do so.
  • Thus, it is “multialignment’, which means making friends with whoever is capable and willing to provide a possible back up in a crisis, and perhaps defence technology.
• The role of the strategic alliance:
  •  Quad (Australia, India, Japan and the U.S.), which discusses security bilaterally even while the grouping backs the freedom of the seas.
  • BRICS, a China-led economic grouping together with Brazil and Russia, because you are not quite sure of putting all your eggs in one western basket.
  • Role of trade in bilateral relationships: India’s $85 billion trade deficit with Beijing rather complicates things, given its frequent forays into and claims of Indian territory.

Challenges of Public communication w.r.t National Security

• Importance of resource allocation: From threat prioritisation, the next level is the allocation of tasks to each service and the equipment that it needs to fulfil its mandate. Defence budgeting is a relatively transparent exercise.
  • However, a ‘strategy’ will need to decide which equipment or service one has to lean towards, and where it falls short.
  • For instance, if the ‘Indo-Pacific’ is part of a strategy, then a hard exercise has to be on how to quickly upgrade your submarine- and ship-building capabilities.

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• Lack of defence capability: India’s submarine strength is about a fourth of China’s, while the picture is even worse in ship-building.
• Cutting the delays: Neither is the lag in the commissioning of warships something that you would want to advertise
• A secret document on the other hand needs to highlight serious weaknesses, not just project ‘can do’ bravery.

The central message needed for the voting public in National security

• Need to be assertive:  The current trajectory of social media opinion demands a fair bit of chest thumping.
• India’s non adventurous reputation: But when it went to the defence of another country, it delivered results and withdrew speedily unlike global hegemons who got bogged down in places such as Afghanistan.
• The perceptions of neighbours: Who would hardly appreciate one’s tom-tombing this as a virtue — at least not in the current dispensation.
• Catering to the public demands: Besides, a rapacious public wants more. It wants a declaration of might and more. So, internally, it has little value for political gain as opposition might seek more.
• Issues with external messaging: Externally, a written National Security document would hardly allow the dexterous foreign policy flexibility apparent from our careful balancing on the Russia-Ukraine and Gaza wars, for instance.
• The democracy dilemma:  Backing democracy strongly in a written NS document would then be an exercise in hypocrisy. The U.S. can be as hypocritical as it pleases. It is a world power. India is not. 

Way forward: A full thread running through the economy

In sum, a national security document is an urgent need. It is not just about defence. Linked closely to it are priorities within the economy that will give a direction to industry, to financial institutions, and all the other tentacles that make up the lifeblood pulsing through the economy. That exercise is generally done piecemeal through various annual reports and surveys. The trick is to integrate it all together and set a direction for the country to reach where it wants to go, and fast.

Conclusion

Therefore, the exercise is one best kept close to one’s chest, even as directives are issued separately to ministries and others. The National Security Council Secretariat is more than up to the task. Similar exercises have been done before, though in a voluminous style so beloved of bureaucracy. Here is some advice: keep it simple, keep it short, and keep it specific. And, above all, keep it well under wraps. Your enemies would be dying to know its contents. A strategy keeping geopolitical situations and neighbours in the planning stage is must.

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Editorial 2: Brace for the new threat to air passenger safety

Context

The carriage of electronic devices could now face scrutiny, and India needs to take proactive steps to ensure air safety given its flawed security system.

Introduction

The recent and startling incidents in West Asia of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies have had another effect. A question mark now hangs over the safety of flights. The Israelis, with the blessings of the Americans and the western world, have been running amok. Do the powers realise that the backlash is going to affect innocent air travellers? When the COVID-19 pandemic grounded flights worldwide, the world pointed the finger at China. It is now obvious that Israel has escalated matters and its tactics may pose risks to aviation.

The VVIP loophole in India

• The birth of airport security checks:  In the 1970s and 1980s, hijacking was the method used to settle political scores. It fizzled out slowly until the 9/11 tragedy that set off worldwide paranoia. The security checks introduced took the pleasure out of flying.
• Security safeguards: The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) came up with several safety standards to prevent another 9/11 event.
  • The world, except India, exempted only a limited number of dignitaries from the mandatory security checks.
  •  In 1989, in India, there were just five categories of persons exempt from security checks (even Union Cabinet ministers were not exempt; the Governors of States were added to the list later).

• Criminalised track record of politics: But India is the only country where individuals with very suspect and shady antecedents get VVIP status because of the illogical exemption granted by the government to please its political colleagues. 
• Concern with the Israel security breach for India: The new Israeli-designed threat is going to be a major issue in India’s perforated safety shield.
  • It is perforated as government agencies are alleged to have infiltrated the phones of several citizens, including those in the judiciary, with the repeated use of Pegasus spyware. 

What are the basic air safety protocols?

• Flight safety mandates: Those of us who have travelled by air will be aware of safety announcements requiring you to put your mobile phone in ‘flight mode’ before the aircraft moves out of the bay.
• Non seriousness of the flight rules: The announcement to turn off flight mode is made only after landing. But there are many passengers who do not observe this rule ever in India. If this happened elsewhere, they could be arrested as it is a criminal offence. 
• Intrusion of airline with phone signals: The restriction on cellphones came into effect after an airline crash was identified to have been induced by an incoming signal to a live phone on board.
  • This triggered a wrong input to the aircraft autopilot. Only a few survived that crash.
• Innovations in Mobile technology: Since then, mobile phones have become more advanced and airliners now have built-in shields for the systems to prevent cell phone interference.
  • Even so, all airlines continue to observe this restriction as a safety precaution in case there is a shield failure. 

The issue of decompression

• The potential global threat: The latest threat, from West Asia, has the potential to mushroom into a major problem.
  • The explosions that could be triggered in small electronic devices, as seen in Lebanon, may cause damage only to a few in the proximity of the device, due to the miniature size of the device.
  • These explosions were obviously triggered by an implanted code. 

The consequences of explosions in small devices at high altitude

• Aircraft damage: They could start a cabin fire. A series of small explosions could damage the pressure bulkhead and the resultant decompression would require oxygen masks to be deployed for use by passengers.
• Passenger safety risk: When there is a cabin fire and there is also oxygen, the result is a catastrophe and a catch-22 situation.
  • If you use the oxygen, you are dead due to the fire.
  • If you do not use the oxygen, you are brain dead.
  • There is only a small window of time for one to become brain dead if you do not get your oxygen mask on immediately 
• The need to rethink safety:  By turning a blind eye to the ‘battlefield’ activities of Israel, the western world is only causing irreparable damage to safe air travel.
  • There are many restrictions on checking in electronic devices in one’s baggage, vulnerable electronic devices in the cabin that can now be a potential safety threat
  • Airlines will now have to ban the use of Wi-Fi on board so that no coded device can be triggered.
• Risk of terrorism on air: One cannot prevent a determined terrorist from masquerading as an innocent air traveller — 9/11 showed us what can happen. 
• Safety checks on baggage’s: The ICAO safety manual makes it mandatory that hand baggage has to be carried on board by the passenger concerned only.
• Risk of misuse of privileges to VVIP: In India, so-called VVIPs and even government officials have their bags brought on board by others. This is a serious offence.
  • Terrorist may place something inside one of these VVIP bags that has bypassed security
  • Major risk is triggered when the aircraft is about to land in crowded cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, or Chennai

Way Forward: Have a safety net

After the incidents in Lebanon, one can expect enhanced security, worldwide, soon. In fact, all passengers flying from Beirut have now been banned from carrying pagers and walkie-talkies and this applies to checked and carry-on luggage and cargo. The airline industry will suffer until governments wake up to the dangerous path that Israel is treading. 

Conclusion

Meanwhile, the Indian government has to take proactive steps such as banning Wi-Fi on board and even consider having signal shields in and around airport terminals. After all, when 5G was being introduced, several safety steps were introduced before they were permitted in the vicinity of airports. India’s aviation safety faces new challenges from evolving threats, including electronic devices. To ensure passenger safety, the government must act proactively by enhancing security measures, restricting device usage, and closing VVIP loopholes.