The Hindu : National : Manmohan assessing role of National Security Adviser

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Thursday, Jan 06, 2005

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National

Manmohan assessing role of National Security Adviser

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 5. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is involved in assessing the role and scope of the National Security Adviser (NSA) following the passing away of J.N. Dixit and the assigning of his duties to M. K. Narayanan, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister.

An official press release issued on Tuesday said the Prime Minister had "assigned duties of the National Security Adviser" to Mr. Narayanan, a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau. "Shri Narayanan will discharge the assignment in addition to his existing duties until further orders," the release added.

The word "officiate" does not figure in the text of the brief press release issued yesterday. As the statement makes clear, Mr. Narayanan, an accomplished intelligence officer, would have additional charge of the NSA's duties "until further orders".

When asked to comment on the statement's implications, South Block officials told this correspondent that it was not as if Mr. Narayanan's appointment was for a few days, but neither was it a permanent affair. Mr. Narayanan himself has been quoted as saying that Tuesday's decision was an "interim measure" taken by the Government.

The current arrangement, the officials said, would allow the Prime Minister to look carefully at how the system had been functioning since he took office in May this year.

In his capacity as Special Adviser, the Intelligence Bureau had been reporting to Mr. Narayanan while the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) was sending its inputs to the National Security Adviser.

With a combination of the two roles, both intelligence agencies would now be reporting to Mr. Narayanan. This could make for smoother functioning, the officials believed. While it was possible that a new NSA might be appointed, it was also possible that Mr. Narayanan's appointment as NSA could be made permanent, the officials said.

There have also been occasions where the functions of the NSA and the External Affairs Minister have overlapped — a feature common to both the National Democratic Alliance and the United Progressive Alliance governments.

A Congress document entitled "Security, Defence and Foreign Policy", released before the general elections, pointed out that the National Security Council had not functioned with institutional cohesion.

"The Congress will institutionalise regular meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Security. It will ensure systematic and institutional interactions between the National Security Adviser, the Strategic Policy Group and the National Security Advisory Board."

"The Congress will undertake periodic functional audits and reforms of various institutions responsible for national security. In particular, it will undertake a restructuring of the intelligence agencies of the Government of India to improve its human resource basis with multi-dimensional expertise ... " the document added.

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