Most Indian students of strategy and security studies rightly disagree with this rather presumptuous argument, especially since Tanham located the causes of the Indian inability to think strategically in its historical and cultural specificities. And yet it is pertinent to ask, even today, whether India thinks about strategic affairs in a systematic, consistent and coherent manner or whether its national security runs on ad hoc arrangements and 'raw wisdom'. Or is it that the political class has traditionally been too cagey about putting out a national security strategy, even a mere declaratory one as opposed to an operational one, in black and white It is interesting, therefore, that the Congress party recently shed its coyness about formulating a national security strategy for India. Earlier this year it tasked Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, a former Northern Army Commander, to write a strategy document which it eventually endorsed and made part of its manifesto. In fact, there have been several attempts at formulating a national security strategy for India. According to some accounts, the National Security Advisory Board had formulated draft national security strategy documents on four different occasions and presented them to successive governments, but the political class wouldn't bite. There has been a lingering worry in the minds of the politicians about a potential commitment trap if a national security strategy were to be put on paper. Recently a senior member of the NSAB stated that there is indeed in existence a national security strategy of sorts, though not disclosed to the general public though Gen. Hooda has said that as the Northern Army Commander, he at least had not seen the document. So, if indeed there is such a document, it is odd that one of the senior-most generals tasked with managing Kashmir and India’s border with Pakistan didn't know about it. And if there isn't a strategy in place, we should be worried.