Latest news with #NSAB
Indian Express
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Sanjaya Baru writes: After Op Sindoor, lessons from Manmohan and Vajpayee governments on communication
Several experts and analysts have commented on poor, even faulty, messaging in the conduct of Operation Sindoor — before, during and after the operation. What were the faults? Before the operation began, it was not made clear that India would only target terrorist camps across the border and the Line of Control (LoC). While this was the stated objective of the government, there was no such clarity in the media on the nature of the Indian response to the Pahalgam attack. This raised expectations within India on what the Indian Armed Forces would do and subsequently contributed to disappointment at home. Bombastic claims by senior ruling party leaders about occupying Pakistan-occupied Kashmir did not help. Second, during the conflict, there was no communication within India and to the international community as to what was actually happening and what India's objectives were. Third, after the conflict ended, there was confusion on (a) the reasons for the ceasefire; (b) terms of the ceasefire and; (c) the nature of future red lines. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that Operation Sindoor has not ended and is merely on hold has raised more questions than provide answers. Statements made overseas by the Chief of Defence Staff and by an Indian defence attache on the political guidelines within which the armed forces operated have added to this problem of mixed messaging. All this gives the impression that the military and civil leadership are not on the same page in their messaging on Operation Sindoor. Against this background, several analysts have drawn attention to the need for better 'strategic communication'. The funny thing is that the subject of 'strategic communication' has been discussed time and again within and outside the government and certainly within the national security establishment. Yet, it seems few lessons have been learnt from past experience. I have myself lectured on this subject, based on the experience during the Kargil War, more than once at the National Defence College. It is instructive to recall what had happened at that time. After hostilities began in the Kargil region, an army spokesperson was providing regular briefings to the media. The Kargil War was the first conflict in South Asia during which private Indian television wished to travel to the battle zones and cover events live. They were inspired by the example set by CNN during the first Gulf War in 1990. The then convenor of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), the late K Subrahmanyam, felt that better and more professional media management was needed. It may be recalled that Subrahmanyam, the guru of strategic policy analysts, had spent the 1990s in newspaper offices, first at the Business and Political Observer and later at The Times of India, and had a good grasp of how the media thinks and acts. At his instance, the NSAB constituted a media advisory sub-committee chaired by Subrahmanyam and including N N Vohra (a former defence secretary), J N Dixit (a former foreign secretary and later the National Security Advisor), Major General Afsar Karim and myself (I was then Editor, The Financial Express). Our first recommendation to the then National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra was that rather than an army officer, a diplomat adept at such communication should do media briefings on a daily basis. The then joint secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in-charge of external publicity, the late Raminder Singh Jassal, was tasked to conduct the daily briefings. Raminder was a talented and skilled diplomat, with good media handling skills and a sound understanding of India's strategic aims and objectives. The NSAB media sub-committee would meet every day at 11 am in the room of the then-deputy NSA Satish Chandra. The minutes of our meeting would be communicated to the NSA who would then brief Jassal. The daily media briefings played an important role in shaping both domestic understanding and expectations from the conflict and global appreciation of India's strategy and tactics. Global opinion turned decisively in India's favour with the United States supporting the Indian view on Kashmir for the very first time. President Bill Clinton endorsed the idea implicit to the Simla Agreement that the LoC would be the de facto boundary between India and Pakistan. It was on the basis of the conduct and outcome of the Kargil War that its main architect, General Pervez Musharraf, began to engage India. Regrettably, though, the Musharraf visit to India and his meeting with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Agra in July 2001 proved a failure and the progress expected did not materialise. It was then left to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take the baton forward. In September 2004, when Prime Minister Singh decided to engage President Musharraf, he was advised by most of his senior officials not to undertake such a risky exercise so early in his term in office. He not only began a conversation but invited President Musharraf to Delhi in April 2005. Once again, the national security and diplomatic establishment was concerned about the political fallout of the meeting. In Agra, the Indian media was seen as being better briefed by the Pakistan delegation than by the Indian side. It was felt Musharraf had been let off too easily with senior editors being charmed by the general. Prime Minister Singh tasked me to develop a media strategy for the Musharraf visit. With the support of senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office, I conducted several closed-door media briefings to different groups of journalists and analysts. This helped shape expectations of the visit and the visit went off without any embarrassment for the country or the PM. There would be other such past episodes that others involved in media management would know. There are some very competent officers in the Indian Information Service as well as in the defence establishment. If media messaging is handled professionally, the country would be better served. It is the over-the-top, highly dramatised, purely ideological and sensational reporting by several media establishments during Operation Sindoor that has damaged Indian reputation and credibility. As many around the world have commented, pro-Modi media outfits have done more harm than good for India's image and case vis-a-vis Operation Sindoor. Responsible and professional coverage, including putting out authentic information in time would have served the national interest better. What has further weakened the Indian case is the fact that the media that did the greatest damage to the country's reputation is viewed as being pro-government. Credible strategic communication requires a credible medium. The writer was member, National Security Advisory Board of India, 1999-2001 and media advisor to the Prime Minister of India, 2004-08
Time of India
06-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
NSAB chairman Alok Joshi urges enhanced intelligence sharing among government agencies to break agency silos
NSAB chairman Alok Joshi urges enhanced intelligence sharing among government agencies to break agency silos GANDHINAGAR: National Security Advisory Board chairman Alok Joshi on Thursday emphasised the need for intelligence sharing among govt agencies for better results and asserted that one of the challenges agencies face is breaking the silos in which they operate. Joshi, who was addressing delegates at the 'Police Technology Summit 2025' at Rashtriya Raksha University in Gandhinagar, headed the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), apex level agencies in the country's intelligence mechanism, before helming NSAB. "India stands at a pivotal moment where technology can revolutionize law enforcement. However, success of this revolution depends on collecting data and analysing it, sharing it swiftly within and across agencies and recalibrating systems through feedback, all the while placing the human factor at the heart of our efforts," Joshi said in his address. "One of the challenges that India is facing is breaking the silos without compromising on the principle of 'need to know'. I think that is something which is central to our system and it will not go away," the retired IPS officer said. National Security Advisory Board chairman Alok Joshi gave an example of NTRO having refused to share an intelligence input when he was heading RAW. "When I was heading the RAW, we did an operation in the adversary country and the operation was a success, and we knew exactly what was going to be the pushback. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like เทรดทองCFDs กับโบรกเกอร์ที่เชื่อถือได้ | เรียนรู้เพิ่มเติม IC Markets สมัคร Undo Security levels were raised and precautions were taken," said Joshi. At that time, NTRO gave an input to RAW, indicating that there was "something brewing", Joshi said. "So I reached out to the then chairman of NTRO and requested him to show me the excerpts of that intercept. Unfortunately, he took a different opinion. A view was taken that they cannot show the intercept because of certain security reasons. That was their assessment," he said. "But this thing stuck in my mind. Within three months, I was in NTRO (as chief). After I settled, the first thing I did was to call for that file. And believe me, if the contents of that message had been shown to me, it would have been a different story. After all, we were both heading security organizations," Joshi said. Asserting that analysing and operationalising intelligence is equally important, Joshi said all officials must remember that someone is the consumer of the information they are receiving. "What would you expect the consumer to do with that information? I think this is something that has to be ingrained in the system, both at the time of collection, and at the time of dissemination," he said. He said no intelligence is complete without feedback, but it is equally difficult to get feedback on the input shared with other agencies. "It is very difficult, but as a producer, it is your duty to chase it. Ensure that you get feedback or have a relationship with that organization where you have the trust and the confidence built in to give you that feedback," he added. During his address, Joshi also said the govt should share the development cost incurred by entrepreneurs building indigenous technologies. "If you want to strengthen your indigenous effort, you have to pay the cost for it. The development cost has to be shared by the govt. At NSAB, we have started taking a re-look at the procurement process, especially for policing and security agencies. It is necessary because you can't have a no cost-no commitment principle. Working in this kind of environment, it will just not work. It will not encourage the industry," he stressed. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Eid wishes , messages , and quotes !
Hindustan Times
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Govt revamps panel on national security
The government on Wednesday reconstituted the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and appointed former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Alok Joshi as its chairman, people familiar with the matter said. The move comes even as India works towards a targeted military response to the Pakistan-sponsored terror strikes in Pahalgam , Kashmir, last week, the people added. Other members in the revamped NSAB include former western air commander Air Marshal PM Sinha, former southern army commander Lt Gen A K Singh and Rear Admiral (retd) Monty Khanna. Two retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officers , Manmohan Singh and Rajiv Ranjan Verma and a retired Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, B Venkatesh Verma also have been included in the new board, the people cited above said. First constituted by the government in 1998, NSAB is a multi-disciplinary body comprising eminent professionals, academics, scientists, administrative experts and retired bureaucrats. Its principal function is to undertake long term analysis and to provide perspectives on national security issues to the National Security Council (NSC) and to recommend measures or solutions and policy options on the issues referred by the NSC to it. Besides NSAB, there are two other key bodies under NSC – Strategic Policy Group (SPG) and Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) -- which assist and provide expertise to the national security council secretariat (NSCS) for integrated thinking and coordinated application of resources for promoting national security goals. An officer familiar with the reconstitution of the NSAB said this was done because the tenure of the existing board ended. NSAB members are appointed for a term of two years. ' NSAB will review the national security situation, particularly in the wake of Pahalgam terror attack as well as analyse related issues like continuing cross-border terrorism and give recommendations as to how to deal with such situations,' said one of the people cited above 'The reports, assessments and policy recommendations prepared by the NSAB are sent to the National Security Advisor (NSA), Ajit Doval, on a regular basis and then it is fed to the National Security Council (NSC)/Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS),' said a second person, adding that the specifics of NSAB's work cannot be divulged in the national interest. The restructuring of NSAB comes in the wake of Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people, all men, 25 of whom were tourists and 24, Hindu, were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists. In a high-level security meeting at his residence on Tuesday, Modi reaffirmed India's resolve to deal a crushing blow to terrorism and underlined that the armed forces have complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of the Pahalgam attack. India is currently weighing military operations to target Pakistan after the April 22 terror attack and tensions have spiraled along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB). NSAB never had a fixed number of members, and the government has not shared any other names or order or notification regarding the members.
Time of India
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Former RAW chief to head revamped national security advisory board
NEW DELHI: Days after the Pahalgam terror attack, in which a Pakistan link has emerged during investigations, the Centre has reconstituted the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), appointing former RAW chief Alok Joshi as its chairman and 14 other domain experts that include ex-commanders from the three armed forces, former diplomats, officers and technocrats. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now NSAB, tasked with undertaking long-term analysis of and providing perspective to the Prime Minister-led National Security Council on issues related to national security, now has 15 serving members. The other new members appointed are former Western Air Commander Air Marshal P M Sinha, former Southern Army Commander Lt Gen A K Singh and Rear Admiral (Retd) Monty Khanna, former IPS officers Rajiv Ranjan Verma and Manmohan Singh, and former diplomat B Venkatesh Varma. NSAB also comprises technical experts like Prof K Kamakoti and B S Murthy. The board is reconstituted from time to time, with appointments usually for a two-year term. The members' tenures do not run concurrently. The decision to get Joshi, a top intelligence brain - who served in the Intelligence Bureau before he joined RAW and retired as its director, and then went on to head the country's technical intelligence agency, National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), post-retirement - to lead the NSAB comes at a time when India is bracing to give a befitting response to Pakistan for continuing to sponsor terrorism in J&K by facilitating recurrent attacks on innocent civilians, the Pahalgam carnage by Pakistani terrorists, facilitated by local Kashmir aides, being the most recent. With the carnage being seen as an intelligence failure, bringing in Joshi, in place of ex-ambassador to Russia P S Raghavan who has been at the helm for almost 8-9 years now, is seen as a clear move to focus the national security policy on revamping intelligence gathering and analysis to foil any future terror misadventures by Pakistani elements.
Time of India
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Ex-RAW chief Alok Joshi made National Security Advisory Board head
New Delhi: Former RAW chief and NTRO chairman Alok Joshi has been appointed as the new chairman of National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) that advises the National Security Adviser and National Security Council Secretariat. #Pahalgam Terrorist Attack A Chinese shadow falls on Pahalgam terror attack case probe How India can use water to pressure Pakistan Buzzkill: How India can dissolve the Pakistan problem, not just swat it Joshi is considered one of the finest intelligence officers with deep knowledge of the neighbourhood and brings with him knowledge of technical intelligence apparatus. India's former envoy to Russia and one of India's finest minds on geopolitics and disarmament issues, DB Venkatesh Verma, has also been included in the reconstituted NSAB. Verma had also served in the PMO and played an important role in the India-USA nuclear deal. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like If You Eat Ginger Everyday for 1 Month This is What Happens Tips and Tricks Undo NSAB has been reconstituted days after the terror attack . Other members are Pankaj Saran (former envoy to Russia and Bangladesh and current convenor, NATSTRAT), Lt Gen AK Singh (retd), AB Mathur, RAdm Monty Khanna (retd), Prof K Kamakoti (IIT Madras), BS Murthy, Air Mar Pankaj 'Panky' Sinha (retd), MM Singh and RR Verma, Devendra Sharma, Bimal Patel (international law specialist), R Radhakrishnan and VAdm PS Cheema (retd). Rajiv Verma and Manmohan Singh are the two retired members from the IPS.
