Commander Garvin Heerah
As our country waits and prepares for the Annual Budget Review on October 7th 2020. It is expected therefore as we are engaged in high level planning and re- structuring having closed the last 5 years and embarking onto another 5 years, that the authors of this national document factor into the title or narrative the key word of accountability.
Many of us believe that accountability addresses monitoring and evaluation. But it goes beyond that. Accountability is the pre-planned action of holding senior decision makers, our leaders responsible for failing to deliver, responsible for misuse of the public purse and responsible for the allowing of corrosion and corruption to exist within their geographic span of management, without taking the necessary action to stop it.
Accountability is the aspect of representation that promotes transparency and above board approach to manging the nation’s business.
Having said that, allow me to turn the spotlight on National Security. The Business Continuity Plan of National Security is critical to the operating efficiency of the Ministry and all its tributaries going forward.
It is hoped that our strategists and planners would be engaged in preservation and reconstruction.
A major part of this action plan is the embarkation, formation and implementation of a National Security Policy and the National Security Strategy. A National Security Policy (NSP) is a government-wide analysis and description of the strategic-level concerns a country faces; it addresses how the government plans to deal with these concerns. A National Security Strategy (NSS) is a government’s overarching plan for ensuring the country’s security in the form of guidance for implementing a country’s national security policy. The team at National Security must by now have considered the efficacy of a NSS. It is considered essential for the integration and coordination of activities by various national security actors. It defines the role of each national actor in dealing with national security needs, determines processes (and chain of command) for making decisions when response to threats or crisis is required, and delineates conditions for using and activating our security forces. Additionally, an NSS may detail cooperation mechanisms between various security actors, regional mobilisation and standardisation of security mechanisms across the wide spectrum of our operational theatre.
Generally, an NSS is based upon threat assessments (provided by the various intelligence collection and analysis actors of the state, and international partners) and reviews of the existing state of the country’s security sector. The NSS would further seek to determine alliances and working relations with all foreign counterparts.
Although our National Security Strategy will focus on mainly the Defence and Law Enforcement aspects, it would also have to drill into the various arms of civil platforms of the National Security Ministry and lend support and direction to the deliverables of these key arms of the state. It should be noted that the NSS and, national security policies are determined by our National Security Council. It would be expected that a special team is set up and put in place to address this very salient issue. In the same format and ‘rhythm’ as the Road Map to Recovery team.
(Tomorrow we look at some of the key recommendations made by Commander Heerah for consideration in the formulaiton of a National Security Strategy.)
