Today, India's worst nightmare is not terrorism; rather, it is the undeniable reality that the wrong kind of people are entrenched in positions of authority. .

The bomb blasts in Mumbai on July 13 have demonstratedthat the devastation is not caused by “intelligence failure”. The root cause behind the spilling of blood is crystal clear: The complete failure of leadership. Why?

People who now occupy positions of leadership are not automatically leaders. Becoming a leader takes a lifelong commitment to put others first. However, many people arrive at positions of leadership by default or nefarious design.

Ministers have dissipated accountability in a haze of rhetoric. The instant response to any terrorist attack, or even an accident, is to appoint a judicial or expert committee to probe the occurrence. The committee is furnished with an endless supply of resources and time, and in the end, the recommendations are all but forgotten.

LEADERS' role

Leaders exist to ensure results. A leader would balance the need for immediate response with continuous long-term capability building of the intelligence and law enforcement agencies and armed forces. He would also perhaps define an exact and hard response to terrorists and forces inimical to the country.

So, what would the Prime Minister or the Home Minister or the Defence Minister do if he or she was a leader?

First, be on the scene first to demonstrate personal and physical courage to the nation. An angry, fearful and panicky nation needs to see a composed, brave and wise leader at the helm. .

Second, in parallel, constitute a working group to consolidate recommendations of all previous committees and commissions; then, draw up a time-based action plan and budget for implementation within, say, 30 days. .

Third, lay down clear accountability standards for any future event. This must be a codified list of actions that would follow any event. Embedded within the concept of accountability is a price or penalty for poor results.

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR POLITICIANS

If, God forbid, we suffer another Bhopal-gas-tragedy-type industrial disaster what would the government do? Surely, the law enforcement agencies would arrest and prosecute the leadership of the companies concerned. No such action has ever followed negligence by the political leadership. This is precisely the reason for government ineptitude in the face of terror.

The Accountability Standard Operating Procedure (A-SOP) for national security, terrorism, accidents and damage caused by negligence or wrong-doing by the government and its agencies must define accountability across the entire hierarchy starting from the very top.

This will certainly create an immediate, electric salutary effect on preparedness and effectiveness of prevention and response vis-à-vis terrorism.

If Ministers know that the next outrage will ensure immediate and unavoidable jail terms for themselves, the entire security situation scenario will change with lightning speed. No one will then say that “law and order is a state subject” or that “the proposal for 5,000 CCTVs is being studied” or that “there was no intelligence”.

Security forces and intelligence agencies will quickly be given the resources and freedom they need, inter-agency cooperation will improve and India's fabled IT expertise will be harnessed like never before.

(The author is a management expert.)

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