Title: The Silent Enemy: Non-Traditional Challenges to National Security
Authors: Dr Arvind Gupta, A national security policy expert. & Mr Rajesh Singh: A journalist.
Publisher: BLUONE INK PVT. LTD. 2
In The Silent Enemy, Dr Arvind Gupta and Rajesh Singh confront a fundamental blind spot in contemporary national security thinking: the persistent tendency to prepare for visible enemies while remaining structurally unprepared for invisible ones. At a time when national power is increasingly shaped by resilience rather than retaliation, this book makes a timely and necessary intervention in India’s strategic discourse.
The authors advance a clear and unsettling proposition—that the most consequential threats to national security today emerge not from traditional military confrontation, but from non-kinetic domains such as cyberspace, public health, climate stress, economic vulnerabilities, information warfare and social fragmentation. These threats do not unfold dramatically. Rather, they accumulate silently, hollowing out institutional capacity and public trust long before their strategic consequences become apparent.
A key strength of the book lies in its dual authorship. Dr Gupta brings policy depth and strategic coherence, situating non-traditional threats within India’s evolving national security architecture. Rajesh Singh complements this with a journalist’s clarity, grounding abstract risks in contemporary realities and making the narrative accessible without diluting its seriousness. The result is a work that is neither an academic treatise nor a journalistic exposé, but a disciplined, policy-facing analysis.
Importantly, The Silent Enemy reframes national security as an ecosystem rather than a sector. The authors argue convincingly that resilience in supply chains, digital infrastructure, public health systems, environmental governance and information integrity must be treated as core strategic assets. This has significant implications not only for defence planners but also for economic policymakers, industrial strategists, and regulators—domains often viewed as peripheral to security but increasingly central to it.
The book’s greatest contribution is its quiet provocation. It asks whether India’s institutions, budgets and governance frameworks are aligned with the realities of 21st century risk. Tanks and missiles may deter adversaries, but they cannot prevent pandemics, cyber paralysis, climate-induced instability, or mass disinformation. These challenges demand anticipation, coordination and institutional agility rather than reactive force.
In the end, The Silent Enemy is less a warning than a strategic mirror. It reflects an uncomfortable truth: nations are rarely defeated by the threats they expect, but by the vulnerabilities they normalise. For policymakers, strategic thinkers, and industry leaders shaping India’s future resilience, this book is a reminder that national security today begins not at the border, but within the systems that sustain the state itself.