Cabinet Committee on security recently cleared formation of three agencies, the Defence Cyber Agency, the Defence Space Agency and the Special Operation Division, to deal with contemporary and new threats, a government official said on the condition of anonymity.
A second official confirmed that all the three agencies will be tri-service agencies, which means they will draw from each service and serve under the command of the Chairman, Chief of Staff Committee.
“It is big a step and these will later branch out to form separate independent, stand-alone Commands dealing with Space, Cyber Space and Special Operations,” another official said.
He added, “The agencies will lead to lot more synergy, economy and sharing of resources building of best practices.”
The Space agency will work in close coordination with the Indian Space Research Organization and Defence Research and Development Organization.
The Special Operations Division will have commandos from the Indian Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force. They will train together to deal with various agencies when the need arises.
While hailing government’s move Lieutenant General KJ Singh, former Western Army Commander, said, “One should hold course and these need to be upgraded to the next level – commands… But these don’t need to be staffed all by the military personnel alone. In the areas of cyber and space, experts on contractual basis should be included to get the best talent. And in the case of special operations, it will be a good idea to include the National Security Guard as well, since the NSG is being used increasingly. They should all train together.”
