Importance of National Security Strategy

National Security is a broad political and military consensus which relating to peace and
development through better national security. The objective of national security is to ensure the
freedom of living and safeguarding other fundamental rights of citizens and more importantly to
make sure continues functionality of the system. Security of nation has several dimensions
including, Boarder, Economic, Energy, Physical, Environmental, Food and Cyber security.
These dimensions are correlated with each and every sector which requires to function as a state.
As Theresa May, the Prime Minster of the Great Britain has mentioned “National Security is the
first duty of government”.

Easter Sunday attack and its aftermaths verified the failure of present government of Sri Lanka in
accomplishing its ultimate duty. Many have tabled number of explanations on the matter. Failure
of hierarchical communication system triggered by power struggle between ruling parties is the
key cause. This caused country a fragile state again after a decade of war victory. President, who
was in Singapore at the time of attack, admitted that he got to know the incident and the letter of
DIG Priyala Dasanayake titled “Information of an alleged Plan Attack” on 11th April 2019
through Facebook. Even the Prime Minister acknowledged the same fact that he was not aware
of the message of DIG. Further PM said that he was not called for the Security Council for last
six months and directly passed the blame to President who is also the Minister of Defence and to
the Security and Intelligence Services of the country. Even the State Minister of Defence made
the same complaint.

However, after the attack number of political leaders and government authorities has expressed
that they were aware of the attack but they heavily underestimated the seriousness of the
information. Intelligence of India has verified that they have shared the information with relevant
parties of the country. Furthermore, President admitted his responsibility and verified about the
intelligence report on the ISIS attack in his speech on Wednesday night (24th April 2019). “I
must be truthful and admit that there were lapses in the part of defense officials… there was an
intelligence report about the attack but I was not kept informed”. The New York Times, April
25th 2019.
Fundamental question should inquire as rightful citizens as well as victims of the brutal attack, is
that why the government failed to implement necessary steps to prevent the incident if authorities
had information? Even His Eminence the Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith inquired the same and he
said at least government should have informed him. Whatever the identified cause, the truth is
that, the ruling parties (President and Parliament) did not pay required attention on the security of
general public of the island. Security information is shared only among VVIPs and their security
staff.

Poor interest and awareness of the importance of national security among policy makers,
political leaders and citizens would be a greater opportunity for terrorist, extremist and other
actors to establish secretly all over the country. Absence of comprehensive strategy (or Policy)
for National Security would be the foundation for the mentioned causes. Thus, the article
discusses the role and importance of national security to a country with special reference to Sri
Lanka. Then it would further elaborate the importance of a national security strategy especially
to a nation which identified as one of the strategic destinations in the world political map.

Ultimate role of national security is to eliminate domestic and foreign threats, disturbing peaceful
coexistence. Traditionally, armed forces are assumed as the prime protectors. Political and
economic inter-dependency among states in this century has broadened the scope of the context.
Threats could appear from both Macro and Micro environments. Challenges from world and
regional bodies represent the global environment. Political, Economic, Social, Technical,
Ecological and Legal concerns within the country are the national factors. Security is directly
linked with each and every sector. Thus, in the context, involvement of both military and non-
military agencies in stabilizing security is inevitable. Peaceful environment is vital for the
existence and continuation of a nation. Counted economic impact of Easter attack has proven the
fact. Figures indicated that 70% of hotel bookings have been cancelled in the past two weeks.
“…on top of the heavy loss of human life, the attacks could cause serious damage to Sri Lanka’s
economy, which depends on tourism…” Daniel Shane and Michelle Toh, CNN Business, April
25, 2019. Social impact has still not been measured. Schools and universities are closed down
for search operations. More importantly, government failed to ensure law and order of the
country. Official dead toll of the attack is 253 and injured at least 500 more. Terrifyingly,
Muslim extremism has covered the whole country with 6 bomb blasts within 45 minutes and fear
lasted till today. Another dimension of communal violence between minority ethnic groups has
been identified, Muslim and Christian which rarely noted in Sri Lanka. Entire social, economic
and political moments have been disturbed.

Interest of super powers is another known threat to the security of the country. The fact has been
verified with the attack. As per references India and Pakistan (regional powers) are playing zero
sum game, suspecting each other for the incident. Pakistan suspects that Research and Analysis
Wing, (RAW) Indian intelligence service is behind the scene. India’s attention is to Muslim
extremists who have blessings from the government of Pakistan. However, both seem to be valid
in the prevailing environment. Information available verified that the United State of America
has agreed to provide technical assistance and expert knowledge with The Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) for the investigations. However, with the historical experience, the role of
arms dealers cannot be neglected as well. In this context, in political and social fronts debate is
on the sovereignty of Sri Lanka in the presence of superpowers on the soil. Establishing a FBI
unit or another form of military bases might be able to happen. Apart from that Interpol,
International Criminal Police Organization has already shown interest of deploying a team to
assist Sri Lanka’s authorities for the investigation. If the scenario has actualized, other nations
might request the same. China, India, Pakistan and Russia are high potential states could demand
the same. Sooner or later Sri Lanka could be the Djibouti in South Asia, unless the situation is
handled strategically.

Properly defined security strategy would be one of the sustainable solutions. Conceptually,
National Security Strategy (NSS) is an instrument to protect or advance national interest of a
country. NSS has capacity to search behavioral patterns of potential actors (domestic and foreign
state and non-state actors) influencing (directly or indirectly) national interest and fundamentals
of a sovereign territory. More importantly, security strategy should be capable of covering all
important elements of national security: Political stability, Economic stability, Military power,
National spirit and Social cohesion, Foreign policy, Energy and Ecological security. Therefore,
the framework would be the guideline for all government policies in the long run. The
government policies consist of foreign, defence, economic, technological and socio-cultural.
Foreign policy of the state would link with all other policies with the guidance of NSS.
In the context of Sri Lanka, aligning foreign policy with national security concerns is crucial.
Practically, island did not have a well-defined foreign policy which matches to the national
interest since the beginning. It has varied with the political interest of ruling parties in each
regime. Regimes of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) usually more align with eastern interests
while United National Party (UNP) used with western even though the country’s foreign policy
theorized as non-aligning or binding. Thus, with regime changes theoretical lenses of
approaching other policies also changed, specially defence and economic. Generally, SLFP is
practicing Buddhist conservative and nationalist policies. Also do appreciate Asian cooperation.
UNP is with neo-liberal principles which promote free markets and deregulation. As two extreme
policies ruled the country time to time with no proper plan, sustainability of the country has been
a jeopardized. However, already whole country is a rotten soup which started spreading its bad
smell with the brutal attack. It is the high time to understand the necessity of a strategic plan with
properly defined vision and objectives. Comprehensive National Security Strategy would be a
viable solution for the matter.

Kasuni Ranasinghe is Research Analyst of the Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka
(INSSSL), Ministry of Defence, Government of Sri Lanka. Views expressed are the author's own.