Integrating armed forces not about CDS alone : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

Integrating armed forces not about CDS alone

A common strand running through the recommendations of various committees constituted in the (not so) recent past for implementing defence reforms has been that of appointing Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)/Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff’s committee (COSC).

Integrating armed forces not about CDS alone

A display at the Army Day parade in New Delhi on Sunday. PTI



Lt Gen AK Ahuja (retd)

A common strand running through the recommendations of various committees constituted in the (not so) recent past for implementing defence reforms has been that of appointing Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)/Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff’s committee (COSC). Some statements regarding the period of turnover of the Army and Air chiefs in January 2017 brought this issue into focus again when it was speculated that a CDS may be appointed concurrently. Any other speculation before the Combined Commanders Conference, scheduled for January 21, would not be meaningful.

The rationale for recommending the CDS has been stated repeatedly: Single-point military advice to the government; administering strategic forces; enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of the planning process through inter and intra service prioritisation; and ensuring “jointness”. He was proposed to be a four-star general (admiral/air chief marshal), who was to rank primus inter pares in the COSC, as currently the rotational Chairman of the COSC (the longest serving chief) does.

Many a reasons (alibis) have precluded this significant reform from being implemented for the past 16 years: lack of unanimity amongst various parties; lack of unanimity amongst the services over the objectivity and quality of single-point advice and apprehension of disproportionate apportioning of resources by a “dominant” service; apprehensions of CDS/COSC being elevated to a ‘5 star’, considered too powerful with related protocol issues and apprehension amongst the bureaucracy of the military advisory channel becoming stronger, etc. Most of these apprehensions, both from within and outside the services, stem from an inadequate comprehension of the practical management of the defence and security issues.

A new dimension has been added to the issue of CDS, wherein the creation of “Theatre Commands” for the armed forces, besides a Strategic Forces Command (SFC) and an Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC) recommended by the GoM (Group of Ministers) and Cyber, Space and Special Operations Commands (or Agencies) being contemplated has started getting inextricably linked to this appointment. Analogies have been loosely picked from the concept of US Theatre Commands, which have distinct global footprints, are geographically far removed from the mainland, with Theatre Commanders (earlier C-in-Cs, now COCOMs/Combatant Commanders), reporting directly to the Secretary of Defence and the President on tasks beyond mere defence and security issues. The Indian armed forces neither operate in such theatres, with dedicated resources, nor are vested with such politico-military autonomy. Relating creation of geographic theatre commands to the decision on CDS in the Indian context is thus misplaced.

Ironically, even the experiment with ANC, the only Tri-Service Theatre Command created in India, does not seem to have worked. The July 2016 government decision to let the Navy continue with its C-in-C appointment at the ANC, in response to the Navy’s quest to maintain its primacy, seems an admission of the reality of the system not working as it should. For India, where implementing ‘jointmanship’ between the services is still at a nascent stage, there is a need to use ANC as a test bed to make the tri-service integration work, in all dimensions. 

So what can the CDS/COSC contribute in the higher defence organisation without creating the perceived upheaval? At the outset, let him be a ‘four star’ (General/Admiral/Air Chief Marshal), to ensure that the peripheral issues related to protocol and inter se parity are put aside. Placing him at the head of the HQ, Integrated Defence Staff (IDS), an already established and sufficiently matured tri-service organisation, will strengthen and enhance the latter’s efficiency as a Military Secretariat to the Raksha Mantri and a structured tri-services interface to the MoD.

A healthy understanding has already emerged between the MoD and the IDS that there are tasks which are best addressed only by military professionals. Towards that end, in the recent past, exercises of reviewing tri-service capital acquisition schemes, aligning these to budgetary allocations and projections over the next 10-12 years, preparing consolidated weapon/equipment-wise road maps, forecasting R&D requirements, forecasting capability development of DPSUs, preparing policies and blueprint of defence exports, etc, have been undertaken jointly by the IDS and MoD. This process of joint planning by the services for the services is being done at present by the CISC (the current three star heading HQ, IDS, equated to the vice-chiefs of the services) by ‘persuasion’ with the services, who would much prefer continuation of the system of service-specific advice/ planning. With a four-star CDS sitting on the high table, he would be able to put across a rationalised tri-service perspective more authoritatively. Regarding apprehensions over single-point advice, it merits comprehension that the CISC or the CDS would analyse requirements from a military perspective and prepare joint staff recommendations. These recommendations would be discussed in decision making forums of the DAC or the like, in the presence of chiefs and senior most military and civil officials of the ministry. Only the “joint military adviser” would now be at the same pedestal as the chiefs, which the CISC presently is not.

The CDS, even without command of theatre commands, would have a rich charter: coordinating activities related to planning for future joint operations, intelligence, training, formulation of doctrines, capability development, force structuring, financial planning, strategic logistics integration, uniform personnel policies, etc. If planned jointly, we may be able to avoid controversies like the recent one over the use of terminology of the cold-start doctrine or think-tank led discussions on issues like the need for a third aircraft carrier or an accretion corps for the mountains. 

Integration of the three services is just the beginning of refining our national security structure. We need integration, with greater urgency, with the Para Military Forces (PMFs), the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), state police, with agencies handling intelligence, cyber, space, nuclear issues and issues related to weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism. In continuation of the efforts of the Shekatkar Committee, we need to go beyond the MoD to integrate the MHA and other stakeholders in our effort to reduce redundant effort between ministries, between military and the civilian side in the MoD, and between the services themselves. It would also avoid ugly comparisons, in public, between the security forces serving a common cause.

The writer has commanded a corps in the Eastern Theatre and superannuated recently as Deputy Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff (Policy Planning and Force Development)

Top News

Supreme Court asks Centre to respond within 3 weeks to pleas seeking stay of CAA

Supreme Court asks Centre to respond to petitions seeking stay on implementation of CAA

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud posted the m...

Raj Thackeray meets Home Minister Amit Shah ‘to keep Uddhav Thackeray factor’ at bay

Raj Thackeray meets Home Minister Amit Shah ‘to keep Uddhav Thackeray factor’ at bay

If the alliance is sealed, the MNS may be given one seat to ...

House set on fire by angry relatives after daughter-in-law hangs herself, elderly couple burn to death

House set on fire by angry relatives after daughter-in-law hangs herself, elderly couple burn to death

During a fight, some people, reportedly belonging to the wom...


Cities

View All