Security thrust to Indo-UK ties

James Peter Brokenshire, the young minister of Security from the UK, is full of enthusiasm and wants to push his country’s security and defence capabilities through collaborations and by tapping export potential. Fresh from the success of the London Olympics, the 45- year-old MP representing the British Conservative Party, sees a lot of common ground between India and the UK. The security threats arising out of terror are similar, and both nations have manpower and technological expertise to share.

No wonder, for the first time, he brought in a 25-strong business delegation, exclusively focused on security. The team visited New Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. In an interview with Business Line in Hyderabad, he shared some of his views and concerns. Excerpts:

What is the context of this visit?

I see three major factors that mark out this trip. India-UK bilateral trade is growing strong at around 16.8 billion pounds. There is a clear case to increase this in a big way.

Secondly, back in the UK, we brought out a Policy Paper on defence and security in February 2012. It clearly underlined the potential for export, the scope for Government and private industry to grow the security industry, benchmarking security standards and building a security brand.

Thirdly, the London Olympic games was a great national security success. It has given us big lessons to deliver safe and secure games — a learning in technology, tactics and systems for organising a large-scale event, and an experience which we feel is transferable to friendly nations. We feel India, with the scope to host large-scale events (as it did on the Commonwealth games), could be our friendly and priority country.

We see India as a major partner for us in the future, both as market and a collaborator, for developing and deploying measures to strengthen security aspects. Security has not been a traditional focus of bilateral trade. This could change from now.

How would you look at cyber crime?

Cyber crime is a real and growing threat to all economies. As cyber criminals use online environment, there is a need to be specially equipped to tackle it. The UK has decided to establish a National Cyber Crime unit, which will work with international law enforcing agencies. This is an outcome of the 2011 London conference on the issue.

A special cyber delegation will visit India later this year to strengthen ties. This is a follow-up of the commitment made by Foreign Secretary William Hague and India’s Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid in November 2012 to increase collaboration on cyber security.

Cyber crime has been identified as tier-I risk and is a key pillar of our defence and security preparedness. There is a need for high-quality people trained in information technology to work alongside law enforcing agencies.

How do we go ahead in addressing these challenges?

The growth in digital economy and online interactions open up newer threats and issues. There is a need for skilled people to work in that environment. It is absolutely important that the Government and private sector join hands to pool their skills to handle these emerging problems.

In the UK, a new initiative has been launched to recruit around 100 youth of 18 years, who are growing up in the X-box generation or world of digital media, global connectivity and interactive gaming. They will be trained as ‘Cyber spies’. The focus will be on generating expertise in the cyber space.

How do you propose to collaborate with Indian Government and industry to tackle threats from terrorist groups and internal strife?

There are several similarities here. We face terrorist threats on the domestic front from groups in Northern Ireland. There are incidents by international groups such as Al-Qaeda, the London metro attack, for example.

We are quite confident of the technology and the tactics needed to combat terrorism. With the similarity in threats, I think a partnership between the Indian security industry, agencies and the British would be mutually beneficial.

The expertise and technology from our industry can be transferred to a different environment in India through collaboration. This is the reason behind bringing a big delegation of two dozen British security and defence companies. In Hyderabad, we visited the ‘Greyhounds’, the elite anti-Naxal force raised by the Andhra Pradesh Government, to understand their capabilities.

What priority does Britain attach to partnerships with India and what is the kind of market potential you see for business?

India is high on priority for us. It is clearly reflected not just in the large contingent, but also a number of big companies such as General Dynamics, Augusta Westland, BAE Systems, G4S, in security systems, Smiths Detection and a good selection of SMEs with cutting-edge technologies.

There are, however, no set targets. We believe in a long term relationship, with quality linkages, which is advantageous to both nations. The primary objective is to partner Indian companies and offer technologies and products.

The UK Ministry of Defence paper of 2012 has forecast a real potential for export growth. As per investments, it has projected up to 150 billion pounds in military equipment over the next decade. Efforts would also be directed towards developing security standards and a UK security brand.

There is emphasis on building safer cities in India (especially after 26/11) based on a combination of technology and policing. The UK has gone ahead in this direction. What scope do you see in India?

We need a fusion of technology and people to achieve this. A set of technologies that would respond to the perceived threats and problems need to be put in place — CCTVs, efficient policing, especially the community policing model. We can share our experience with Indian police.

There is also a need for a sound command and control and inter-operability, so that different departments share information that is necessary to secure the cities we live in.

Finally, we are happy that there is immediate follow-up from the Indian side, with a proposed visit by an Indian delegation in March to London, including representatives from industry and Ministry of Home Affairs.

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