Command and Control
Musharraf established Pakistan’s overall nuclear command and control system in 1999, creating the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) in the Joint Staffs Headquarters to manage nuclear-related matters. In February 2002, Pakistan established the National Command Authority (NCA) to formulate policy and exercise employment and development control over all strategic nuclear forces and organizations.162 Retired Brigadier Feroz Hassan Khan argued that “Despite widely known limitations, Pakistan has done remarkably well in establishing a nuclear security regime and an evolving nuclear security culture that requires encouragement and support.”
Group
Responsibility
National Command Authority (NCA)
• Makes decisions on nuclear deployment.
Strategic Plans Division (SPD)
The “secretariat” for the NCA; headed by the Director General from the army and comprises officers from the three services.
• Develops and manages all nuclear capability and exercises day-to-day control.
• SPD Director General is responsible for the operational security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
• SPD manages its 10,000 troops to ensure security at nuclear sites. Each nuclear facility has an SPD security division as the inner perimeter (the outer perimeter is the fence with electronic sensors).
• Conducts security clearances with the ISI for employees under the Personnel Reliability Programme (PRP) and Human Reliability Programme (HRP).
Strategic Forces Commands
• The Army, Navy, and Air Force each has its respective strategic force command, but operational control theoretically remains with the NCA.
• Each service exercises administrative control over the strategic delivery systems.
• Pakistan’s Army controls the surface-to-surface missiles used as delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons.
• Pakistan’s Air Force controls the aircraft used as delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons; protects several of the nuclear facilities through air defense (those sites are designated as no-fly zones).
Musharraf, in December 2007, formally articulated the NCA’s composition and functions:164 the President as chairman, the Prime Minister as Vice Chairman, the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister, the Finance Minister, the Interior Minister, the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), the Chief of Naval Staff, and the Chief of Air Staff. When Musharraf left office in April 2008, Asif Ali Zardari became the nominal head of the NCA, though actual control over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons remained with the military. In November 2009, however, President Zardari handed over his NCA powers to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who chaired its 16th meeting on January 13, 2010.165