The South Pacific Security Council

[Milograd]

Hey guys. Let's talk about our security: I swear we'll be able to get back to the fun stuff after we work something out here.



In response to my concerns about our current security situation, and in response to the dissent regarding the endorsement cap proposal, Bel and I have recently been discussing the possibility of forming a South Pacific Security Council. This council would essentially replace the Ministry of Security in terms of handling security: the "Ministry of Security" would be re-named and would have its focus shifted towards the SPA and only the SPA. We feel that tasking a single individual with handling our security <em class='bbc'>and</em> the SPA causes both of them to become neglected, and that this would help us become more secure and would allow our army to receive the attention that it deserves.



Now, the current idea is that the council would consist of five members: each would have very specific roles. All five of the council's members would be be permitted to go over the endorsement cap, but only one or two would be "vice-delegates" in the traditional sense. The Chairman of the council would be tasked with the security aspects of the MoS' current job. Indeed, he or she would scan the region for threats, prepare responses to threats, and so on. The other council members' jobs would vary from being influence/endorsement bulwarks to simply contributing constructively to the council and participating in its affairs.



The goal here is twofold essentially twofold:

[*:qmn7lcqv]we want to ensure that the SPA and our security receive the attention that they deserve,



[*:qmn7lcqv]and we want to ensure that we have an organized team of players dedicated to protecting the region.The SPA Commander other than the WA Delegate, along with two other players, could also be co-opted members of the SC. The council members would be elected by the assembly and would retain their positions until they either quit, CTE'd, or get recalled. The chairman could be elected by the council or by the assembly. This is a vague outline for the idea, of course: a lot of the details will have to be decided via community consensus here and now if we're going to pursue this.



Lastly, "Security Council" is a working name. If people like this idea and have suggestions for better names, feel free to suggest them here.



Cheers, and I hope that you are all willing to get behind this idea.

[God-Emperor]

There're already provisions in the laws and Charter for a Security Council. I'll add more later.

[Milograd]

Indeed, but it doesn't actually do anything and it's never been used for this purpose. It also doesn't address the MoS/SPA issue.

[Topid]

If we do this we should go with another name since there is the World Assembly Security Council already, and TNP has a Security Council that is similar. The South Pacific Honour Guard or The South Pacific Protection League or The South Pacific Defense Force, I'm not sure, but something. The Elders could be cool too but may give wrong impression.

[HEM]

Let's focus on doing something simple

[Belschaft]

If we're going with another name it <em class='bbc'>has</em> to be <em class='bbc'>The Committee for State Security</em>.

[Milograd]

If we're going with another name it <em class='bbc'>has</em> to be <em class='bbc'>The Committee for State Security</em>.

Yes.

[Milograd]

<img src='http://i.imgur.com/84KSZVy.png' alt='Posted Image' class='bbc_img' />

<strong class='bbc'>Obv.</strong>

[Antariel]

I dub this unnecessary; can't the Cabinet do it?

[Milograd]

I must respectfully disagree, Ant. I feel that the cabinet should do what it's elected to do and nothing more: the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Regional Affairs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Chairman of the Assembly shouldn't be in charge of our security because it's not their job to focus on our security, and they need to focus their attention on their true duties. The MoS should be the one who focuses on security, but dividing his or her attention between the army and security only goes to ensure that one of them gets neglected, and that's obviously not desirable.The cabinet plays a large role in handling our security, but I think we should have people who are elected to run our security run our security, rather than people who aren't.

[Belschaft]

<em class='bbc'>*SQUEEEEE*</em>



I'm siging that, right now, this very second.

[God-Emperor]

Wait? Ya want the security council to be elected? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

[Belschaft]

Under the existing proposals the Committee for State Security is made up of a mix of elected and appointed/confirmed officials, who are co-opted to serve on the body. I imagine that is what Milo refers to.

[Antariel]

This convo has been going on a while, both BCD and here, and I've found nothing to convince me this is practical or useful. Will be opposing.

[Milograd]

Under the existing proposals the Committee for State Security is made up of a mix of elected and appointed/confirmed officials, who are co-opted to serve on the body. I imagine that is what Milo refers to.

Indeed.

[Drugged Monkeys]

We need a different name. Committee for State Security sounds ridiculous

[God-Emperor]

I dunno how the name has become the main focus of this conversation. I have several more serious concerns.

[Drugged Monkeys]

Please feel free to express you concern. This conversation needs to go somewhere. Ant has issues as well, so I would like to hear a more detailed response from him also.

[Milograd]

If you have concerns, you shouldn't say that you have them: you should say them.

[God-Emperor]

I apologize, but I wrote half of this a couple days ago.Sorry 'bout the delay, but now for some constructive criticism. I'm behind the idea of a security council, but whether or not I actually vote for such a thing would depend on the practicalities of it. I could care less 'bout what the council itself is called. I'm almost shocked that the name has been the focus of the discussion thus far, especially considerin' such a proposal wouldn't be as easy as simply passin' a law, but it would require an amendment to the Charter. However, I would prefer to see the Minister Of Security retain most of its current responsibilities, and I think the SPA should be the focus of the SPA. The rank structure of the SPA is broken. Commander In Chief, as such, is not a military rank, but strategic command of the military is an implied power of the delegacy. Furthermore, General In Chief may be a rank, but I think tactical command of the army should be delegated to whomever the commander appoints, which, at the current time, is the Minister Of Security. That bein' said, if the commander chooses to retask that position, who am I to disagree, but it should be a military officer. This is where the breakdown occurs. The SPA's ranking officer, General Sheepa, while deservin' of the rank, is as inactive as they come. Without mentionin' the fact that no one has attained the next highest rank, Major, the second in command, Captain Antariel, has no operational command that I can tell 'cept bein' able to countermand the order of subordinate officers, which ya havta skip the next lower rank, Sergeant, to find one and promote suordinates, which is almost never done. These four are technically the only four people who should have access to the Senior Staff forum, but I assume Hile still has access to the forum, even though he technically holds the rate of Private. The two corporals, RT and Pen, are functionally equivalent, with all the benefits, the same as CAPT Ant, but with the ability to issue contradictory order to subordinates. The only lance corporal, besides the fact that there should probably be more lance corporals than corporals, LCPL DM, loses the ability to promote, and the two privates, Loh and I, lose all responsibilities, technically even to the recruits, which do not receive any trainin' whatsoever. That's the attention our army deserves. As far as the council itself goes, I think the current Minister Of Security should be the Chairman, not some redesignated MoS, and, if I were to speak to the other four members of the council, they would be the two vice delegates, the SPA commander, and either the Deputy Minister Of Security or the director of The South Pacific Intelligence Agency. My reason for these four sets of individuals is they are all either elected by the citizenry, in the case of the MoS, approved by the Assembly, in the case of the vice delegates, or are appointed by someone who has been elected, in all the other cases. However, as ya may have noticed, only the MoS is directly elected, and its by design. I don't think electoral politics should figure too heavily into our regional security, but with the Chairman of the council bein' the one elected, it would still leave the people with a powerful voice on the council. The other side of that coin is that it allows for some continuity on the council with the vice delegates, and, to some extent, the SPA commander, but it does not allow for it to stagnate with a newly elected MoS or newly appointed DoS or TSPIA director bringin' new blood to the council periodically. Havin' those particular positions on the council also discourages council members to quit with all of our regional security secrets in their heads, but, since all members who occupy those positions are, of course, allowed to quit, there are already procedures in place to replace them, especially if they cease to exist. Furthermore, council members can be recalled from their respective positions instead of from the council itself, which would avoid the awkward situation of someone, the MoS, for instance, bein' recalled from the council, but still, nominally, bein' in charge of regional security. Furthermore, ya wouldn't need to elect a Chairman 'cause the MoS elections would already take place with the understandin' that the person would be MoS and Chairman. Finally, the council could simply constitute the ministry itself, which avoids the need for a new name, but, if I were to throw my suggestion into the hat, it'd be the regional security council (RSC). Not such a vague outline so feel free to refer to it by my name. Questions? Comments?

[Milograd]

I may be misinterpreting your statement, GE, but I believe that I agree with what you're saying. I want the SPA to be the focus of the SPA and I want security to be the focus of the Minister of Security. The Minister of Security is a position that would hypothetically be absorbed into the Security Council, but it would also retain its presence in the cabinet.If the people desire it, I also believe that changes to the SPA's basic chain of command can definitely be considered.

[God-Emperor]

Shoulda waited a few minutes. I added the second half.

[Antariel]

I'll wait till GE's issues are finished before really outlining mine, but mine focus on
1) Practicality
2) Usefulness

[God-Emperor]

Feel free.  I'm all for pilin' on.

[Drugged Monkeys]

Well I just had a chance to finally read GE's comments. I have to say, well said indeed sir. The command structure is total shit. I mean the most active members of the SPA are basically all the lower ranking members (or what's left of them). Sheepa is inactive at best, Rebel and Pen are busy with RL and running their own region, and Bels is too busy with RL as well. We have a tattered SPA, hell we don't even really have an SPA anymore. The whole SPA needs to be overhauled, scrapped IMO but will leave that for another discussion. GE's idea for the structure of the RSC is pretty much the best one I've heard so far. That being said, I think if the MoS were to take the position of chairman we would need to change our election calendar. By that I mean make the term for MoS longer, maybe 4 months? Or something like that so we don't end up getting a new MoS and chairman every three months and having to clue them in on the whole process over and over.Maybe change the whole election calendar for every cabinet position. So that we don't end up with empty ballots all the time, staggering the elections a bit might help bring stability to cabinet roles as well as create more interest and a broader range of candidates as well.I know I may have rambled a bit but this is the first chance I've had in a few days to empty my thoughts about TSP and issues I've noticed.P.S. Region Security Council sounds great. Simple, straight to the point and we don't end up with some stupid acronym like SPA or TSPCSS