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India: Officials Could Announce Formal Nuclear Command Soon India will most likely announce its strategic force command — designed to handle nuclear and missile capabilities — early next year, The Hindu reported today (see GSN, Aug. 13). Although a formal apparatus has not yet been announced, India might have an “informal” structure to handle such issues, according to outgoing chairman of the Indian Chiefs of Staff Committee, Army Gen. S. Padmanabhan. “If it does not appear to be there, it does not mean it is not there. What is invisible today will become visible tomorrow,” Padmanabhan said. “These are certainly things not in the public domain. We may have an informal structure already which in time could acquire a formal status,” he added. Air Vice-Marshal T.M. Asthana could be named the head of the new command, The Hindu reported. Padmanabhan also made reference to the idea that Pakistan’s nuclear capability prevented India from going to war earlier this year (see GSN, Dec. 30). “We had evaluated it (the nuclear capability) and were ready to cope with it,” he said (Sandeep Dikshit, The Hindu, Dec. 31).
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