What NSA Ajit Doval Recently Said About New Forms Of Warfare

The new frontiers of war is civil society, which can be manipulated to hurt a nation’s interests, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval said at the passing out parade of the 73rd batch of IPS probationers at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVP NPA) in Hyderabad on 12 November.

Doval was the chief guest at the Dikshant Parade, which is the culmination of the 46-week long phase-1 basic course training. He said:

“The new frontiers of war, what you call the fourth-generation warfare, is the civil society.. [conventional] wars have ceased to become an effective instrument for achieving political or military objectives. They are too expensive or unaffordable and, at the same time, there is uncertainty about their outcome. But civil society can be subverted, suborned, divided, manipulated to hurt the interests of a nation."

The fourth generation warfare is characterised by the blurring of lines between war and politics, combatants and civilians. The enemy power uses tactics of education or propaganda, building social movements, etc.

Short of a defeat, fourth generation warfare tries simply to disorganise and delegitimise the state, force it to expend resources on maintaining internal law and order, etc. It combines the elements of psychological manipulation, disinformation, cyberwarfare, using proxies like terror groups, etc.

An example of fourth generation warfare is visible in China's long-term policy of ‘strategic containment’ of India. It is not only assisting Pakistan to develop and deploy nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles; backing political parties and individuals in India’s neighbouring South Asian countries to undermine their relations with India, but also supporting anti-national groups in India, giving them funds, arms, etc.

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NSA To IPS Probationers

The NSA, who graduated from the National Police Academy 52 years ago, gave his wisdom to the young probationers. Stating that people are the most important, Doval told the future IPS officers, "You are there to see they stand fully protected.”

He asked the young probationers to develop a national perspective. “You are for India and India is for you. Every other identity gets subsumed to this Indian identity,” he was quoted as saying by IE.

The service of people is the greatest service, not only from the point of view of nation-building but also from the point of national security, he told the new batch of officers, and asked them to not only think of reforms to avoid repeating mistakes of the past but also be transformative to look at future challenges and find solutions in advance.

He also told the IPS probationers that success of democracy depends on the enforcement of laws:

“Quintessence of democracy does not lie in the ballot box. It lies in the laws which are made by the people who are elected through these ballot boxes. You are the ones who are the enforcers of the law… Laws are only as good as they are executed and implemented and the service that people can get out of it.. people cannot feel safe and secure where law enforcers are weak, corrupt, and partisan."

“No nation can be built where the rule of law has failed,” he added.

He reminded them that their responsibility includes not only the safety and security of 130 crore human beings but also the 32 lakh square kilometres of land area across the country.

He asked them to be trained and prepared for border management as well as challenges of highly specialised investigations in agencies like the NIA or CBI. He said that some of the officers will work for intelligence units within or outside the country, and they will have the responsibility to see that governments can make informed decisions and that these decisions are enforced in the country’s best interests.

He said that the officers today need to excel in the challenges of technology as a frontier. “Without your success, the nation cannot succeed. If internal security fails, no country can be great. If the people are not safe and secure, they cannot rise to their potential, and probably, the country can never grow,” he said.

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