General Anil Chauhan Challenges the Need for Written Security Strategy

Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan argued that the absence of a written national strategic policy doesn't mean the country lacks a strategy. Citing various successful initiatives like the revocation of Article 370 and combating COVID-19, he emphasized that policies, processes, and practices exist independently of written documentation.

Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday said that the absence of a written national strategic policy does not imply that the country lacks a strategic policy. Speaking at the release of book ''Crafting a New Indian Art of War,'' Gen Chauhan contested the insistence on having a national security strategy in written format. ''When we talk about national security strategy, I believe it consists of policy, processes, and practices to succeed. In our country, probably all three are addressed. The only thing missing is a written policy. I don't know why people insist on that,'' Gen Chauhan said. If we didn't have a policy, we wouldn't have succeeded as we did in revoking Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, he asserted. Chauhan cited the ''successful'' combating of COVID-19 in a country of 1.4 billion people in support of his argument that India was not bereft of a comprehensive policy. ''If there was no strategy behind it, how did we achieve our goal? Even the Balakot airstrike and the Uri airstrike — if there was no strategy, how did we do it? So there is a strategy, but what is missing is probably a written document. And a written document actually doesn't count,'' he emphasised. Citing the example of Israel, he said, ''They (Israel) don't have a written policy, but they have a policy and follow that policy.''