Working on roadmap to integrate armed forces, says CDS Chauhan

Stressing the importance of integrating the three armed forces to fight future wars, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan on Wednesday said 180 initiatives had been identified to integrate the forces. He said the vision statement, which was like a roadmap for 2047, had three phases. He said a written national security policy document was being worked out.

The CDS was speaking on the subject of future wars and the armed forces at an event organised by the India International Centre here this evening. He was in conversation with NN Vohra, former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, who also held key positions during his bureaucratic career.

The CDS said the vision statement laid down the period till 2027 as a phase of transition by when the structures of the integrated operations should come up. The next 10 years (2027-37) would be the period for consolidation. In the last phase (2037-47), the CDS said, the projections were “slightly hazy” as the period was too far away in this era of fast-changing technology.

Vohra bats for national security document

We need a well-worked-out written framework with ministries like Home, Defence and External Affairs, along with intelligence agencies, having a mandate in it. Their accountability should be assessed under this framework. NN Vohra, Former governor, J&K

The armed forces were looking at eight domains to integrate and for that 180 initiatives had been identified, said General Chauhan. “We need organisational and structural changes. The integrated theatre commands would lay the foundation of change. The creation of theatre commands is just the beginning of the next set of reforms,” he said.

The CDS said, “We have a vision and we are preparing for that. The forces will be ready to respond to a full spectrum of conflict. The nature of combat is changing. Rising uncertainties mean we need to make doctrinal changes for future wars. We should be able to fight integrated multi-domain operations.”

Vohra, who is also a former Defence Secretary and was part of the Kargil War Review Committee, raised the matter of having a national security document. “What is preventing us from saying that we want to go ahead to have a national security policy,” said Vohra, as he recollected that a draft of a written national security document was worked out and reworked multiple times in the past two decades or more.

Vohra suggested to the CDS, “We need a well-worked-out written framework with ministries like Home, Defence and External Affairs, along with intelligence agencies, having a mandate in it. Their accountability should be assessed under this framework.”

The CDS, who was asked by Vohra to clarify if a written national policy document was needed or not, responded by saying that the nation could not function in its absence. “A written document is being worked out,” he added.

Internal security was 95 per cent the job of states and the Union Home Ministry and the Army should not be burdened with day-to-day peacekeeping, said Vohra, who has also served as the Union Home Secretary.