National Command Authority (Pakistan)

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National Command Authority (NCA)
مقتدرہِ قومی کمان
Agency overview
Formed2 February 2000 (24 years ago) (2000-02-02)[1]
Preceding agency
  • None
TypeNuclear command and control
JurisdictionGovernment of Pakistan
HeadquartersIslamabad, Pakistan
Employees30,000+[2]
Agency executive

The National Command Authority (NCA) is an independent federal agency of the Government of Pakistan that is responsible for safeguarding of the national security through the military applications of the nuclear science.[3]

With Prime Minister of Pakistan being its Chairperson, the NCA maintains and enhances the control and operational effectiveness of Pakistan's nuclear weapon stockpiles and serves as a policy institute to work to reduce the danger from weapons of mass destruction in Pakistan.[3]

Established in

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Anwar Shamim in 1983.[4]

Mission overview

The National Command Authority is charged with joint-space operations (such as

weapons of mass destruction. The National Command Authority oversees the operations of the Pakistani Army, Air Force, and Navy's Strategic Commands, along with their functional basis. The unified military strategic command structure is intended to give the Prime Minister and Cabinet of Pakistan a unified resource for greater understanding of specific threats (military, nuclear, chemical, biological, radiological, conventional, and non-conventional, and intelligence) and the means to respond to those threats as quickly as possible to prevent the collateral damage. The civilian Prime Minister is the Chairman of this Command, with all military assets, components of NCA, and strategic commands directly reporting to Chairman of their course of development and deployment.[3] Chairman Joint Chiefs of staff committee, service chiefs , and DG ISI are members of NCA, and DG SPD
is the ex officio secretary of NCA, with SPD functioning as the NCA’s secretariat

Organizational structure

The NCA consists of the following nine ex officio members:[5]

Civil-military leadership composition and representations
Ex-officio officials Designation Official Notes
Prime Minister of Pakistan Chairman Shehbaz Sharif Chairman, NCA
Foreign Minister of Pakistan
Officiates Bilawal Bhutto Zardari[6]
Interior Minister of Pakistan
Officiates Rana Sanaullah[7]
Finance Minister of Pakistan
Officiates Miftah Ismail[8]
Defence Minister of Pakistan Officiates
Khawaja Muhammad Asif[9]
Defence Production Minister of Pakistan Officiates Muhammad Israr Tareen[10]
Military leadership and representations
Four-star officers Inter-Services Notes
Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Joint Staff HQ Principal Military Adviser to the Government
Chief of the Army Staff
Army
Asim Munir
Chief of Naval Staff Navy
Amjad Khan Niazi
Chief of Air Staff Air Force
Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babur
SPD & Intelligence leadership and representations
Three-star general Inter-Service Notes
Director-General Strategic Plans Division
SPD
Lt. General
Yusuf Jamal
Secretary, NCA
Director-General of ISI ISI
Lt. General Nadeem Anjum
Intelligence Adviser

The Director-General of the NCA's Strategic Plans Division (SPD) is the ex officio Secretary of the NCA and the SPD functions as the NCA's secretariat.[5] The current Secretary of NCA is Lt. General Yusuf Jamal.

Decision making in the NCA takes place through consensus and, in the event that consensus is not achieved, then through voting, with each member having a single vote.

Background

The

Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto authorized the atomic bomb project to keep the projects safe from being exploited, politicized, or infiltrated by enemy powers attempting to sabotage them.[11]

It is alleged by the former

Chief of Army Staff, General Mirza Aslam Beg in 1994, that the Command was established in 1972 by former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto when he authorized the atomic bomb project.[11] The Joint Staff Headquarters (JS HQ) served its combatant operational command and is chaired by the Prime Minister. In 1994, General Beg retains: " (...).... The NCA determines the state of readiness which has to be maintained at all times... (sic)... and lays down in great detail the policy of how the various components will be placed, protected and safeguarded.".[11]

In April 1999, the

Pakistani Armed Forces, and the Director-General of the SPD.[12] The DCC includes the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee (as deputy chairman of DCC), the chiefs of the armed forces, the director general of the SPD, and a "representative of the strategic organization and scientific community (science adviser)".[12][1]

Since the 1970s onward, the National Command Authority is responsible for policy formulation and will exercise employment and development control over all strategic nuclear forces and strategic organizations.[11] It consists of an Employment Control Committee and a Development Control Committee, as well as the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) which acts as its secretariat. The SPD is responsible for the management and administration of the country's tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile. It was created the same year as the NCA was formed.[11]

Their directives are to be operationalized by a new SPD under the control of a Director-General at the rank of

Vice-Admiral) in charge of the management and administration of the tactical and strategic nuclear forces. As of 2022, the director-general of the SPD is Yusuf Jamal.[13]

Since its establishment, Pervez Musharraf, as President of Pakistan, had served its first chairman. However, after the 2008 General Elections, Pakistani lawmakers introduced a new law which was passed unanimously by the Pakistani Parliament.[14] The bill placed the NCA's Authority under the Prime Minister’s command.[3]

Subordinate Commands

The directives of the NCA are to be operationalised by the:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "National Command Authority formed". Dawn archives 2000 (Press release). 2 February 2000. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  2. ^ 900 SPD soldiers pass graduation from Abbotabad centers, April 20, 2012, CNBC Pakistan, "NameBright - Coming Soon". Archived from the original on 15 February 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e Baqir Sajjad Syed (25 February 2016). "National Command Authority calls for strategic restraint pact in South Asia". Dawn (newspaper). Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  4. ^ a b "The National Command Authority". Federation of American Scientists (fas.org) website. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  5. ^ a b http://www.na.gov.pk/acts/act_2010/national_command_authority_act2010_090310.pdf[dead link]
  6. ^ "Bilawal takes oath as foreign minister". Express Tribune (news). 27 April 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Rana Sanaullah Khan as Minister of Interior". Ministry of Interior Pakistan (official). 21 April 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  8. ^ "Miftah Ismail's Portfolio at as finance minister". Government of Pakistan Finance Division (official). 27 April 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  9. ^ "On 19 April 2022, H.E KHAWAJA MUHAMMAD ASIF took oath as 39th Federal Minister for Defence of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan". Ministry of Defence, Pakistan (official). 19 April 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  10. ^ "MUHAMMAD ISRAR TAREEN , FEDERAL MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PRODUCTION". Ministry of Defence Production, Pakistan (official). 19 April 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d e NTI, Nuclear Threat Initiatives (5 May 1994). "Bare All and Be Damned" (PDF). Far Eastern Economic Review. p. 47. Retrieved 17 May 2012 – via NTI Nuclear and Missile Database. The NCA determines the state of readiness which has to be maintained at all times...and lays down in great detail the policy of how the various components will be placed, protected and safeguarded
  12. ^ a b c "Pakistan Sets Up Weapons Control Authority". Times of India (Press release). 4 February 2000. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  13. ^ "Lieutenant General Yusuf Jamal, Director General Strategic Plans Division on behalf of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, conferred distinguished service medals to thirty-four eminent scientists and engineers of the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) for their meritorious services during an Investiture Ceremony held at Chaklala Garrison". Inter Services Public Relations Pakistan. 11 October 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Senate passes amended National Command Authority Bill 2016". Daily Times (newspaper). 22 December 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2018.

External links