National Security and Intelligence Management: A New Paradigm

by Vappala Balachandran

This book is a compilation of the author’s published works and lectures during the last 15 years on different facets of our national security. He has attempted to do a clinical analysis of what is wrong with our present system security, intelligence collection and policing. These reflections are based on his vast experience of 36 years in the government service when he had a chance to study other security and intelligence systems. While several other countries have reformed their security, intelligence and policing apparatus, India has unfortunately lagged behind. There have been no worthwhile reforms either in intelligence collection methodology or in policing since our Independence, except adding numbers. Our intelligence system is almost the same as we inherited after the Second World War. Our Police exhibits the same approach as we did in 1861 when the first Police Act was codified. The author has “Globalization has loosened States’ control over their polity” and “Corporate sector has encroached into the security arena, wresting some areas from government, such as vital industries, communications, financial and commercial management, which are also subject to trans-border developments.” However our security apparatus is essentially the same as we had with a command economy where everything was decided by the government. This is the essential reason for our inability in meeting the formidable challenges of the 21st Century where security, intelligence and policing have become much more complicated with traditional and non-traditional security issues overwhelming us. This collection deals with this problem and attempts to offer some suggestions to remedy our outdated system. About the Author Vappala Balachandran, a former special secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, had worked in Maharashtra Police for 17 years and 19 years in Cabinet Secretariat. In 1993 & 1994 he led the Indian interagency groups for annual dialogue with US agencies on terrorism. He was a member of the 2 man “High Level Committee” appointed by Government of Maharashtra to enquire into the police response on the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks in 2008. He writes a regular column on internal security issues in Sunday Guardian, a New Delhi Sunday paper.

346 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 15, 2014