New Delhi: Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday night discounted reports suggesting that the outgoing
National Security Advisor M K Narayanan had voiced objections
to his moves to revamp the country's security structure.
Chidambaram said in fact the government had no proposal on
this issue as of now and that he had only articulated his
views on a future security apparatus in his speech during a
meeting of Intelligence Bureau officers last month.
"My speech was circulated as I believe the speech of the
Home Minister should be circulated to key people in the
Intelligence community. And I am sure that people were asked
to give their comments on the ideas that were espoused in that
speech.
"It (speech) is still not yet a discussion paper, it is
still not a proposal. I am working on it," he told a news channel.
To a question whether the role of the NSA will be
diminished in a future security set-up, Chidambaram said his
speech does not even make a reference to this office.
However, he said the NSA has a lot of work to do advising
the Prime Minister on major issues apart from terrorism. The
issues relate to civil nuclear agreements, border disputes and
a number of issues that impinged on national security, he
added.
Chidambaram has already announced plans for setting up a
National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) by the year-end amid
speculation that this will result in a decline in the NSA's
authority.
The NCTC will be the nodal agency for counter-terrorism
with analytical and operative wings.
The Joint Intelligence Committee, the National Technical
Research Organisation (NTRO), the Aviation Research Centre
(ARC) and other related agencies are expected to report to the
NCTC head.
It is speculated that if this happens, then the NSA, to
whom the JIC, NTRO and ARC report, will lose his significance.
PTI
First Published: Monday, January 18, 2010, 23:54