Security stuck in files

In any assessment of the post-26/11 security scenario,the failure of the UPA government to at least initiate the process of setting up the NCTC must top the list of pending security and counter-terrorism related initiatives. Clearly by doing no follow-up after the Home Ministry submitted its NCTC discussion paper to members of the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) in April 2010,the government lost the post-26/11 momentum which had resulted in setting up of the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC)an intelligence-sharing mechanismas well as the NIA (National Investigation Agency) as a federal agency to probe all terror-related cases.

Both these crucial initiatives were taken in December 2008within days of the 26/11 attacks. While the MAC was operationalised through an executive order,the NIA was cleared in an unscheduled Cabinet meeting. What,unfortunately,were left by the wayside were the two mega proposals of the Home Ministry,the NCTC and NATGRID,an ambitious network of 21 databases for seamless gathering of intelligence and information to be accessed by all 11 security and intelligence agencies.

It was on December 23,2009 that Chidambaram outlined what he described as the new security architecture during the Centenary Endowment lecture of the Intelligence Bureau. The Home Minister had set a deadline of 18-24 months for the NATGRID to become operational but the project got its in principle clearance only in June 2011 and its proposal for the Executive Finance Committee has just been finalised. The NATGRID has been allotted a 10-acre plot for construction of its headquarters in the Andheria More area of Delhi but with discussions with the Planning Commission on its financial outlays and powers still to begin in earnest,it may be long before the network is fully functional.

But this progress on the NATGRID project was before a phase of uncertainty which lasted almost two years since several departments and ministries opposed the proposal on privacy grounds and a hasty CCS approval came just two days before the term of the NATGRID CEO,Raghu Raman,was to come to an end.

The birthpangs for the NCTC have been even more tortuous and perhaps,some of the delays were a result of the shackles that the Home Minister himself raised during the IB lecture,where he made a fervent plea that his proposals for restructuring the security architecture would not result in a turf war. He said,Some agencies would naturally have to be brought under the NCTC and what comes to my mind readily are NIA,NTRO (National Technical Research Organisation),JIC (Joint Intelligence Committee),NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) and the NSG (National Security Guards). The positioning of R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing),ARC (Aviation Research Centre) and the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) would have to be re-examined and a way would have to be found to place them under the oversight of the NCTC… He also pointed out that while the US was able to set up the NCTC in three years,India must decide now to go forward and must succeed in setting up the NCTC by the end of 2010…

The grand security rejig outlined by the Home Ministry envisaged the subsuming of both the newly-set up MAC and the NATGRID into the NCTC. While on paper,the proposed reshuffle of the alphabet soup of agencies may appear innocuous,it isnt that easy. The proposal clearly underlines a concentration of powers from the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and the National Security Advisor (NSA) towards the Home Ministry and as similar,though not so ambitious,initiatives taken after the Kargil war have shown,a turf war inevitably erupts when new security and intelligence edifices are created.

Take the case of the NTRO,which was set up in 2004 and was supposed to inherit the satellite imagery division of the Aviation Research Centre as well as some of their aircraft. While the transfer of the unit has just taken place,the aircraft were never transferred. The NTRO now finds itself in the middle of a raging controversy on the alleged misuse of their passive interception powers and is the subject of an unprecedented special audit conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

The September 7 terror attack on the Delhi High Court has again turned the spotlight on the unfinished agenda of setting up of the NCTC. The Prime Minister himself mentioned the significance of setting up NATGRID and NCTC,which is being seen as a political nod for the latter.

Indeed,officials in the PMO told The Sunday Express that the CCS has recently discussed the NCTC discussion paper on more than one occasion and a decision has been taken for an entire CCS meeting to be devoted to the Home Ministrys proposal.