War Room and Decision Making.

"War Room" Enters the political lexicon of India.

will it be adapted for Good Governance ?

Perhaps the largest exercise in logistics in the world, has just been completed in India. General elections covering the length and breadth of India came to an end on 12 May 2014. Conducted over 9 phases, from 07 Apr to 12 May this year, this complex activity covered an estimated 814.5 Million voters of which close to 100 Million were newly eligible this year. It is estimated that the total expenditure incurred by candidates and the Government would be close to US $5 Billion.

Interestingly, well endowed National Parties used cutting edge technology to monitor and embellish their campaign. It is gratifying to note that the word "War Room" has entered the lexicon of political parties in India. Let me explain why.

The concept of' Operations Room' or' War Room' is an integral part of Military operations. It enables rapid dissemination of information to all stake holders, uses the best available means of communication with back up modes, employs well trained personnel to interpret incoming data, analyses and presents material to senior authorities for quick decisions and is always manned 24/7-365days-in peacetime or War.

The only time our political leadership is exposed to this environment is when there is a war, a natural calamity or a catastrophic event of national importance. Given a chance, senior politicians and bureaucrats would rather not be present in a war room, which demands speedy decision- making under hostile conditions. When rapidity of thought and action are demanded from it, our political system which depends on decision- making through Committees and consensus achieved over months of debate, is highly stressed. Ipso facto, it generally resists accountability for decision- making.

Increasingly in the course of their tenure, key Ministers are required to tackle emergencies such as hi-jacking of aircraft, terrorism, natural calamities etc which need an efficient Operations room environment described above. However since the Cabinet Secretary is the senior most civil servant who has the powers of coordination among numerous ministries and State Governments, he is also the leader of the team nominated to tackle an emergency. Going by recent experience of Governance, he may be heading scores of Committees for critical decision making inputs, thus making him a Superman blessed with extraordinary skills of materiel and time management. 

Just to clarify, in War like situations, the War book held by all Ministries contains a list of activities which permit smooth coordination and transition from peace to war.  This assumes that there is sufficient indicators of an impending hostile action by the enemy and that the Government has the sagacity to declare a precautionary state of readiness. Special powers for the Armed Forces to requisition civil transportation and such like activities essential to mobilize, are accorded strictly in consonance with the instructions contained in the book. Operations thereafter are left to the Armed forces to execute within the frame work of broad guide lines of intentions outlined by the Government of the day. The war room/operations room thus becomes the hub of activities during hostilities.

In order to deliver during hostilities, the three services, upgrade and modernize their facilities on a regular basis, to make information- flow as close to real time as possible;  so that they are not found wanting when the need arises.

Civil servants on the other hand neither have the training nor the wherewithal to lead or guide operations for which facilities akin to operations room become a vital link. For instance when a hi jack occurs, various personnel listed in a Government memo which is revised from time to time, would need to congregate at a temporary facility which has the barest minimum communications and information dissemination facility. During the Kandahar Hi jack of IA 814 on Dec 1999, readers would recall that the aircraft could not even be detained at Amritsar due to delay in assessing the situation and consequently deciding on the course of action. Adhoc arrangements and lack of frequent drills often lead to disastrous handling of a sensitive situation.

On a positive note, recognizing the need to handle situations related to aircraft through an organised Operations Room manned by qualified experts, the Indian Air force facilities have recently been brought into the loop. Similarly for Sea- Piracy, the Naval facility has been appropriated. 

In the absence of qualified experts and facilities to expeditiously and efficiently handle less than war situations, we need to find early solutions within the boundaries imposed by peace time limitations.

A possible solution is to identify a permanent team of experts drawn from various agencies of Military ,Police ,Intelligence and Civil services, to activate urgent containment actions in the first instance. This implies that the expert team should either be available in the vicinity of the operations room or at best gettable within 20 minutes or so of the emergency.

Second, a suitable Operations room needs to be identified and equipped with connectivity to numerous civilian agencies that may be required to react to a disaster. A National Disaster Management Authority  exists but it needs to be provided with an operations room which goes beyond natural or man- made disasters along with connectivity to the remotest parts of India.  Cell phones and Satellite communication terminals now, make this highly feasible.

Third, Clear demarcation of responsibility and accountability among decision makers and operational authorities need to be documented for efficient execution of the task.

Fourth, frequent drills need to be conducted to assess the readiness of the team and its ability to receive and disseminate orders/instructions to the remotest parts of India. Unless similar teams are constituted at the State level it is unlikely that the mission can be accomplished expeditiously.

It is in this context that the 'War Room' model employed by Political parties for election, plays an important role to underscore the dire necessity to replicate such models and concepts to meet genuine national  emergencies. It is an inextricable component of good governance. 

A holistic review and prophylactic actions are the need of the hour.

Vice Admiral(Retd) Suresh Bangara former C-in-C of Southern Naval Command was also the head of Naval Operations from 1999 to 2002 and the first Deputy Chief of Operations of HQ Integrated Defence Staff