Initial forward steps toward a National Security Strategy

In the case of Botswana which is a democratically governed state (at least as far as the constitution says at the moment), it is imperative that all stakeholders including grassroots communities are engaged in the development of any such policy creation like the NSS.

The NSS’s development is very broad in nature and will have to address all other security aspects beyond the military. Its scope will encompass the police, prisons, intelligence and of course the military. Among the four security institutions mentioned above, only the intelligence has enjoyed being a result of a process of planning. Regardless of the fact that the creation of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services was bundled up in a cowboy style, it is what Parliament approved and we have an end product as a result of that.