WikiLeaks - INDIA'S NSCS: PROFESSIONALS IN A "BUREAUCRATIC BACKWATER"

 Important Note: This is exact copy from WikiLeaks - Link. I have copy -pasted here because it deals with me directly. Credit of this blog-post lies completely with WikiLeaks.    

INDIA'S NSCS: PROFESSIONALS IN A "BUREAUCRATIC BACKWATER"

Date: 2006 July 21, 07:29 (Friday)

Canonical ID: 06NEWDELHI5136_a

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 NEW DELHI 005136 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2016 TAGS: PREL, PTER, PGOV, PINR, IN SUBJECT: INDIA'S NSCS: PROFESSIONALS IN A "BUREAUCRATIC BACKWATER" REF: A. NEW DELHI 4836 B. 05 NEW DELHI 6596 C. 05 NEW DELHI 6980 Classified By: A/PolCouns Jon Dorschner for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 1. (C) Summary: India's National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) was a little-known institution until a SIPDIS recent series of "Indian Express" articles alleged that several of its employees were involved in a spy ring (Ref A). From collating intelligence inputs to supporting National Security Advisor MK Narayanan to servicing the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), its tasks are as varied as its staff. Although former NSCS employees appreciated the organization's mandate for long-term analysis over news-of-the-day reportage, many in India's bureaucracy consider the NSCS a backwater that lacks the prestige to attract top-flight cadre. It also suffers from a over-reliance on detailees and contract employees vice maintaining a full-time professional complement, but in Embassy New Delhi's experience, it is also the place to turn to for substantive expertise within an Indian bureaucracy that typically values generalists over experts. End Summary. 2. (C) Our information is based on open source reporting and interviews with the following people: -- Harinder Sekhon, Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, and former NSCS staffer. Sekhon spent two years on the NSCS studying alleged linkages between Pakistan's ISI and criminal/terrorist organizations throughout the rest of South Asia. An historian by profession, she has published books on Punjabi history and the history of US-India relations. She did not disclose specifics of her NSCS research, and stated that her findings are considered classified. -- Manoj Joshi, Editor (Views), "Hindustan Times," and current NSAB member. -- Prominent security commentator Rear Admiral (ret.) Raja Menon, former Assistant Chief of Naval Operations. -- K. Subrahmanyam, Chairman, Task Force on Global Strategic Developments and Convenor of NSAB I and NSAB II. -- Bharat Karnad, Research Professor in National Security Studies, Centre for Policy Research, and Member NSAB I. -- NSCS's first Additional Secretary and Current NSAB member Narendra Singh Sisodia. NSCS Structure -------------- 3. (C) The National Security Council Secretariat is the National Security Advisor's permanent staff. The NSCS is chaired by the D/NSA. Below him are one secretary, one additional secretary (A/S), and four joint secretaries (J/S) for internal security, economics, international relations (i.e. the US, Europe, Middle East) and regional affairs (India's neighbors, including China). Arvind Gupta, the senior-most J/S, heads the international affairs wing. (BIO NOTE: Sekhon told Poloff that Gupta will likely stay at NSCS for another few years, because his wife, Purnima Malhotra Gupta, is on the GOI Planning Commission (Ref C) and "has NEW DELHI 00005136 002 OF 004 burnt up all her leave, so they can't take a foreign posting." End Bio Note.) Multi-Functional ... -------------------- 4. (SBU) The NSCS performs many tasks: -- It collates intelligence reports from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and Military Intelligence (MI) for the NSA and D/NSA. When information from different sources diverge, the NSCS is mandated to adjudicate discrepancies. -- Having evolved out of the GOI's former Joint Intelligence Committee, it generates policy papers and strategic forecasts for the NSA and through him the Cabinet-level National Security Council (NSC, chaired by the Prime Minister). -- The NSCS staffs the NSC, the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) (Septel), and the Strategic Policy Group (the top civil servants of national security ministries, heads of intelligence agencies and chief of the armed forces, headed by the Cabinet Secretary). -- It is the focal agency for GOI international cybersecurity cooperation and domestic promotion of cybersecurity. -- According to the "Indian Express," NSCS also deals with India's nuclear program, domestic intelligence including Kashmir, and security assessments of India's neighbors (China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal). Sekhon told us the organization is also a key player on such non-traditional security concerns as global warming, avian influenza, environmental issues, and water -- a critical policy issue between India and its neighbors. ... and Multi-Disciplinary -------------------------- 5. (C) Sisodia and Sekhon heralded as one of NSCS's main strengths that its analysts were historically largely shielded from having to deal with the "issues of the day." "At NSCS we are given time to read, research, and educate ourselves on the issues," said Sekhon. Sisodia added that NSCS was meant to be inoculated against "operational pressures" and its analysts are encouraged to take a multi-disciplinary approach to assessing security concerns for New Delhi. Professionals in a Bureaucratic Backwater ----------------------------------------- 6. (C) Although the NSCS is staffed with many subject-matter experts (a resource lacking in many other parts of the GOI bureaucracy), it is considered a "bureaucratic backwater" and few GOI officials seek postings there, according to Joshi. Menon echoed verbatim his assessment of the NSCS as a backwater, and both men regarded the NSCS as "full of second-rate people." (COMMENT: This assessment conflicts with our experience in dealing with NSCS. End Comment.) Menon added the NSCS was too small, and he criticized former NSA JN Dixit ("who minimized the importance of the NSCS") and former D/NSA Satish Chandra ("who did not understand the concept of staffs") for having turned the NSCS into a NEW DELHI 00005136 003 OF 004 "backwater." 7. (C) One reason the NSCS has become so poorly regarded within the GOI may be its lack of glitter when compared to the "prestigious" Indian Administrative Service and Indian Foreign Service. The NSCS is less than a decade old and shares with several other GOI agencies, including the National Commission for Minorities, a decrepit building on a busy street corner near central New Delhi. This contrasts with the four "power ministries" (External Affairs, Defense, Home, and Finance) that occupy stately Lutyens buildings on a boulevard overlooking India Gate, adjacent to the Prime Minister's Office and Rashtrapathi Bhavan (the President's House), and a short walk to Parliament. Finally, the rest of the GOI is known as a breeding ground for generalists; the NSCS's reputation as the home of subject-matter experts may perversely encourage bureaucratic mandarins to brand its staffers as clerks and technicians. 8. (C) Sisodia acknowledged that the NSCS was victim of "uneven development" and positions there "are not coveted," but he added that the organization would over time accumulate sufficient prestige necessary to compete for top-notch staff with "blue chip" elements of the Indian bureaucracy. There are fewer perks for the NSCS than for other GOI agencies, and fewer opportunities to participate in meetings and negotiations than at most Ministries. NSCS's Impermanence a Hindrance ------------------------------- 9. (SBU) Menon publicly argued that for the NSCS to be effective, it must be populated with a permanent staff of careerists, not by detailees seconded from across the GOI, many of whom undoubtedly retain more interest and loyalty to their home ministries than to the NSCS. "The core of the NSC was always supposed to be a National Security Staff, a bunch of bright staffers from the armed forces, MEA, economists, scientists, and administrators ... but every bureaucracy in Delhi was unsure how much power they would retain and how much power the NSCS would gather," so they erred on the side of retaining power by retaining control over staffing, he wrote. (NOTE: Sekhon was an academic who worked for the NSCS on a contract basis. End Note.) 10. (C) Dean of India's strategic community K Subrahmanyam echoed many of Joshi's and Menon's criticisms of the NSCS, but added that much of the negativity in India surrounding the NSCS is fueled by politics and "bureaucratic sour grapes." He did add, however, that crisis decision-making is a particularly weak element in the NSC system. (NOTE: The UPA government has to date not had to cope with an unfolding crisis situation like the December 1999 IC-814 hijacking that might have field-tested the NSC. The NSC potentially has a pivotal role under the GOI's 2005 anti-hijack policy, according to the limited Indian press reporting about that policy, see Ref B. In theory, the NSCS would shift to provide real-time support to the NSC in such an event. End Note.) Resources Taxed --------------- 11. (C) Sekhon complained that, before she left NSCS in late 2004, staffing the NSAB took up about half the NSCS's time. This support function led to NSCS beginning to shift toward NEW DELHI 00005136 004 OF 004 short turn-around research and away from long-term analysis. The remainder of the NSCS's time was spent fulfilling similar duties for other GOI customers, Sekhon said. The 2005 creation of the Subrahmanyam Task Force further strained NSCS resources, because the NSCS was directed to staff the Task Force as well, leaving yet fewer resources for research and analysis. Greater Foreign Policy Role than Before --------------------------------------- 12. (C) One result of MK Narayanan becoming NSA after the death of his predecessor, former Foreign Secretary JN Dixit, was a power shift from the MEA in favor of the NSCS. Under Dixit, MEA retained a hammer-lock on foreign policy issues, but with his passing and replacement by Narayanan, the former Intelligence Bureau chief wrested some of that authority for NSCS, according to Sekhon. Comment: Repository of Expertise, Professionalism --------------------------------------------- ---- 13. (C) Embassy New Delhi's experience with the NSCS conflicts with Menon and Joshi's criticisms. We have found the NSCS to be better informed on complex issues than its counterparts elsewhere in the GOI. For example, our former GOI cybersecurity POC was an Indian Navy commander who specialized in telecommunications and electronic warfare and was seconded to the NSCS; he has since retired from government service and now heads up Microsoft India's cybersecurity division. We view our other NSCS contacts as equally impressive, but we do not doubt that the organization is treated, in many respects, as a poor cousin to the "high caste" Indian ministries. 14. (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website: (http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/sa/newdelhi/) PYATT