Overview

India is now enmeshed in the deterrence game —actively with its traditional adversary Pakistan, and potentially with China. At the same time it is finding easier access to fissile materials and strategic technologies. In order to deal with these developments safely and wisely, the nation needs a much more sophisticated and multidisciplinary understanding of the strategic, technological, operational, and cost issues involved in nuclear matters. In this important book, Indian strategic analyst Verghese Koithara explains and evaluates India's nuclear force management, encouraging a broad public conversation that may act as a catalyst for positive change before the subcontinent experiences unthinkable carnage. The defence management system of a nuclear power absolutely needs to be sound and thorough. In addition to the considerable demands of managing its nuclear forces, it also must control conventional forces in a manner that forestalls nuclear escalation of a conflict by either side. Expanding and upgrading nuclear forces without enhancing deterrence is dangerous and should be avoided. India's nuclear force management system is grafted onto a woefully inadequate overall system of defense management. Koithara dissects all of these issues and suggests a way forward, drawing on recent developments in deterrence theory around the world.

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Reviews

Despite India's 1998 declaration that it was now a Nuclear Weapons State, its long march to acquiring sufficient deterrence is still incomplete. Verghese Koithara's Managing India's Nuclear Forces shows why. It argues persuasively that possessing nuclear weapons may actually subvert deterrence if that possession is not accompanied by a range of complementary procedural, institutional, and ideational investments in an environment where both China and Pakistan are developing sophisticated nuclear arsenals. While students of nuclear deterrence in India and elsewhere will undoubtedly benefit from this work, it should be, above all, mandatory reading for all policy-makers in New Delhi. --Ashley J. Tellis, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D.C. This is excellent research by an outstanding practitioner in the intricate world of nuclear policies in South Asia. It becomes more important as it comes from the perspective of India, a new nuclear weapon power with all the challenges of learning anew about deterrence. It highlights the challenges and the structures needed to stabilise the balance. It exposes the issues that have been swept under the carpet in the initial euphoria of breaking the nuclear embargo, providing in the process a practical guide to wise decision making in an increasingly difficult trilateral strategic equation. A must-read for all strategic thinkers and professionals alike, not just in South Asia and China, but in the world. --Major General Dipankar Banerjee, Director, Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi This is an outstanding work --substantively and analytically --on India's idiosyncratic approach to managing its nuclear forces and deterrence posture. Verghese Koithara brings a practitioner's understanding of how nuclear forces dovetail with India's contemporary security requirements yet suffer from serious managerial and operational shortcomings. His book explains what needs to be done to integrate professional military expertise and operational responsibility with civilian led strategic policy-making to make nuclear deterrence operationally meaningful and maximally stable. It shows how the present system distorts strategic understanding at top policy levels and impedes operational functioning, leaving India ill-prepared for projecting deterrence efficiently. It offers well-crafted proposals to improve India's system, institutionally and organisationally. --Rodney W. Jones, President, Policy Architects International, Washington, D.C. Managing India's Nuclear Forces fills a large and critical void in India's nuclear discourse. Verghese Koithara discusses in depth, with expertise and insight, the extremely demanding and complex issues involved in owning a nuclear arsenal and in projecting deterrence. These issues can be ignored, as is being done today, only at serious peril to the country. The book should be compulsory reading for current and future members of parliament; all those who aspire to political leadership; middle and senior level government functionaries in civil, military and scientific establishments; those in the media who are moulders of public opinion ; and, importantly, citizens who are interested in their own security and wellbeing. --Arun Singh, Former Minister of State for Defence of India This book is a brilliant contribution to the literature on how states manage weapons of mass destruction in such a way as to maximise security and minimise the risk that they will be used inadvertently or in error. India now lacks a credible theory of how nuclear weapons might be used other than as an instrument of national pride and propaganda. Admiral Koithara shows how India should move from being a declared Nuclear Weapons State, to becoming a state with a serious nuclear strategy and organisational capacity. This book is required reading for India's strategic community, and those who seek to understand the direction of India's nuclear programme for the next several decades. --Stephen P. Cohen, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. In his book, Verghese Koithara casts a laser-sharp beam to illuminate the Stygian dark of India's strategic domain. With an unerring instinct he not only picks out the debilitating infirmities which afflict the management control and operationalisation of our nuclear forces by a scientist-dominated enclave, but also zeroes in on the flawed thought processes that guide India's national security decision making. Koithara's spotlight on the barren and mistrustful relationship between India's political leadership and the armed forces, and the total exclusion of the latter from national security planning could not have been better timed. His compelling exploration of India's nuclear deterrent mercilessly holds up a mirror before the emperor. --Admiral Arun Prakash, Former Chief of Naval Staff of India

"""Despite India's 1998 declaration that it was now a Nuclear Weapons State, its long march to acquiring sufficient deterrence is still incomplete. Verghese Koithara's Managing India's Nuclear Forces shows why. It argues persuasively that possessing nuclear weapons may actually subvert deterrence if that possession is not accompanied by a range of complementary procedural, institutional, and ideational investments in an environment where both China and Pakistan are developing sophisticated nuclear arsenals. While students of nuclear deterrence in India and elsewhere will undoubtedly benefit from this work, it should be, above all, mandatory reading for all policy-makers in New Delhi."" --Ashley J. Tellis, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D.C. ""This is excellent research by an outstanding practitioner in the intricate world of nuclear policies in South Asia. It becomes more important as it comes from the perspective of India, a new nuclear weapon power with all the challenges of learning anew about deterrence. It highlights the challenges and the structures needed to stabilise the balance. It exposes the issues that have been swept under the carpet in the initial euphoria of breaking the nuclear embargo, providing in the process a practical guide to wise decision making in an increasingly difficult trilateral strategic equation. A must-read for all strategic thinkers and professionals alike, not just in South Asia and China, but in the world."" --Major General Dipankar Banerjee, Director, Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi ""This is an outstanding work --substantively and analytically --on India's idiosyncratic approach to managing its nuclear forces and deterrence posture. Verghese Koithara brings a practitioner's understanding of how nuclear forces dovetail with India's contemporary security requirements yet suffer from serious managerial and operational shortcomings. His book explains what needs to be done to integrate professional military expertise and operational responsibility with civilian led strategic policy-making to make nuclear deterrence operationally meaningful and maximally stable. It shows how the present system distorts strategic understanding at top policy levels and impedes operational functioning, leaving India ill-prepared for projecting deterrence efficiently. It offers well-crafted proposals to improve India's system, institutionally and organisationally."" --Rodney W. Jones, President, Policy Architects International, Washington, D.C. "" Managing India's Nuclear Forces fills a large and critical void in India's nuclear discourse. Verghese Koithara discusses in depth, with expertise and insight, the extremely demanding and complex issues involved in owning a nuclear arsenal and in projecting deterrence. These issues can be ignored, as is being done today, only at serious peril to the country. The book should be compulsory reading for current and future members of parliament; all those who aspire to political leadership; middle and senior level government functionaries in civil, military and scientific establishments; those in the media who are ""moulders of public opinion""; and, importantly, citizens who are interested in their own security and wellbeing."" --Arun Singh, Former Minister of State for Defence of India ""This book is a brilliant contribution to the literature on how states manage weapons of mass destruction in such a way as to maximise security and minimise the risk that they will be used inadvertently or in error. India now lacks a credible theory of how nuclear weapons might be used other than as an instrument of national pride and propaganda. Admiral Koithara shows how India should move from being a declared Nuclear Weapons State, to becoming a state with a serious nuclear strategy and organisational capacity. This book is required reading for India's strategic community, and those who seek to understand the direction of India's nuclear programme for the next several decades."" --Stephen P. Cohen, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. ""In his book, Verghese Koithara casts a laser-sharp beam to illuminate the Stygian dark of India's strategic domain. With an unerring instinct he not only picks out the debilitating infirmities which afflict the management control and operationalisation of our nuclear forces by a scientist-dominated enclave, but also zeroes in on the flawed thought processes that guide India's national security decision making. Koithara's spotlight on the ""barren"" and mistrustful relationship between India's political leadership and the armed forces, and the total exclusion of the latter from national security planning could not have been better timed. His compelling exploration of India's nuclear deterrent mercilessly holds up a mirror before the emperor."" --Admiral Arun Prakash, Former Chief of Naval Staff of India"

Author Information

Verghese Koithara is an independent strategic analyst whose previous books include Crafting Peace in Kashmir: Through a Realist Lens and Society, State and Security: The Indian Experience. He retired from the Indian Navy as a Vice Admiral in 1998.

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