New Delhi: A task force on national security on Wednesday submitted its final report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reportedly suggesting a major revamp of the structures and operating procedures of security and intelligence agencies.
The task force headed by former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra had 13 others from the fields of defence, policing, diplomacy and strategic affairs. It was set up in July last year.
It was meant to review the existing processes, procedures and practices in the national security system and suggest measures for strengthening the national security apparatus.
The report is a result of 10 months of work the task force did in studying the existing security structures and the functioning of the many security agencies.
"Its members had extensive discussions between July 2011 and May 2012 with concerned ministries and departments as well as with several state governments and others.
"They also called on the prime minister, finance minister, defence minister, external affairs minister, home minister and the three defence chiefs," a government official said here.
"The task force has made an assessment of the security scenario facing the country and made recommendations to the government. The report of the task force is now with government for its consideration," he added.
The task force is a follow-up action of the government to a similar first-ever focused exercise carried out under strategic affairs expert, the late K Subramanyam.
The task force under Naresh Chandra had former Intelligence Bureau chief PC Haldar, former Research and Analysis Wing chief KC Verma, former National Investigation Agency chief Radha Vinod Raju, former Indian Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash, former Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy, and former Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen VR Raghavan, apart from bureaucrats Brajeshwar Singh and Vinod K. Duggal as members.
Other members of the task force were National Council of Applied Economic Research director Suman K Berry, former diplomat and high commissioner to Pakistan G Parthasarathy, former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar, former Mumbai Police commissioner D Sivanandan, and journalist Manoj Joshi.
IANS
