Does India need a national security strategy document?

The UK is not alone, others without a codified constitution include Israel, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and Canada, among others. This buttresses the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan’s argument in his book Ready, Relevant and Resurgent: A Blueprint for the Transformation of India’s Military, citing Israel not publishing an NSSD, too.

Each nation takes its own unique approach. UK’s NSSD was initially “stimulated by the US national security strategy development (and a wish on the part of some British commentators to see a distinctive UK voice in global security strategy)” claims David Omand, former permanent secretary and security and intelligence coordinator at the UK Cabinet Office, writes Alan Stolberg. The UK at least pieced together an NSSD in 2008, while Israel continues to neither have an NSSD, nor a codified constitution. South Africa published its first NSSD, the 1996 White Paper on National Defence for the Republic of South Africa, when it abolished apartheid. It needed a document to showcase both internally and externally what its new definition of national interests and national security was. China published its first white paper titled China’s National Security in the New Era more than a decade after formulating the National Security Commission and National Security Law. The white paper states that “a higher level of security is now required to support higher-quality development.” Not publishing an NSSD has supported Israel’s nuclear ambiguity stance, but probably its ambiguity became a burden and, after the October 7 (2023) attack, Israel legislated and mandated the next political regime to provide one. The United States (US), mandated by the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, publishes one, frequently, reflecting its security strategies with the changing geopolitical zeitgeist.  

Why do some countries not codify their NSS? Every country looks at its own security needs and decides whether it is in their best interest to publish a single NSSD or not. And if yes, what shape or form it should take.

Thus, saying India does not have a national security strategy or doctrine is akin to claiming that the UK does not have a constitution.

In 2019, the UK Supreme Court judgment in Gina Miller versus the prime minister, stated: “Although the United Kingdom does not have a single document entitled ‘the constitution’, it nevertheless possesses a Constitution, established over the course of our history by common law, statutes, conventions and practice. Since it has not been codified, it has developed pragmatically, and remains sufficiently flexible to be capable of further development.”