December 1, 2008

Lessons from the Mumbai Terror tragedy - Too Little Practice (Part 4/4)

What went Wrong - Too little Practice:
Even though everyone who participated in the encounter got the job done...it barely got done, and now noone can ever say that a particular way would/could have resulted in a different outcome. But the familiarity of each player with the next was very apparent.



Ideally: There should be dedicated Liason-units which develop intimate familiarity with any other agencies their own agency might be expected to work with, depending on the situation. For instance, in case of a Terror-situation A,B,C agencies do G,H,I functions while in a Natural-Disaster-situation X,Y,Z and A,B agencies do P,Q,R functions.

Unless the situations are hypothetically imagined, and planned for, and then rehearsed - in mock, anything else would be "winging it" when the real thing happens, with familiar dissapointing results. Also, the Liason-units must be tested to actually work, and not to just cover their respective organizations asses.
 

'Ind'eally: Liason-units are expected to be non-functioning and for half-hearted rehearsals to be the norm - unless, these itself are included into the compulsary machinery of the Govt by making them auditable. Use the red tape! Make inter-operability check-able and involve private consultants to keep things fresh and relevant, and accounted.


Thi
s is post 4 of a 4part article. Read Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Too Many Heroes Part 3: Too Many Voices
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3 comments:

Neo said...

My man.. this 3 part series has been one of the most thought out posts i have read in the recent past!
I agree with you whole heartedly on every point. My birthday this past week has been the darkest till date because i couldn't wrap my head around the fact that it's still not over. Still, my salute goes out to the NSG and the forces for their hard work. The Malegaon blasts had completely maligned the Indian Army's name. Now we can proudly say that the indian army still is the shizzle! :)
Peace

A:Di said...

Good going Dinesh....agree with you ...I hope we un-Indea'elly learn a lesson this time...high time we did...salute to our armed forces and lets hope it gets them back their much deserved respect.

Tragicomix said...

@Arjun+Ad!tyA
TY! I guess we've earned not only the MOTIVATION to but also the license to actually ACT DECISIVELY.....i hope we actually do some thing concrete now.

 
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