by enemy powers attempting to sabotage them. It is alleged by the former Chief of Army Staff, General Mirza Aslam Beg in 1994, that the Command was established in 1972 by former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto when he authorized the atomic bomb project. The Joint Staff Headquarters (JS HQ) served its combatant operational command and is chaired by the Prime Minister. In 1994, General Beg retains: " (...).... The NCA determines the state of readiness which has to be maintained at all times... (sic)... and lays down in great detail the policy of how the various components will be placed, protected and safeguarded.". In April 1999, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chief of Army Staff, General Pervez Musharraf developed a unified central command system to use nuclear and missile technology as part of the defence and security of nuclear assets under government control. Finally, the command was formally established and given commissioned on February 3, 2000, after approval by Pakistan's National Security Council. The command compromises the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), the Development Control Committee (DCC), and a Strategic Plans Division (SPD). The Prime Minister— Chief Executive (Head of Government) of the country served as its chairman while other members included the high-profile Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense (Military Production), Economic, Science, and Interior, the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chiefs of the Pakistani Armed Forces, and the Director-General of the SPD. The DCC includes the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee (as deputy chairman of DCC), the chiefs of the armed forces, the director general of the SPD, and a "representative of the strategic organization and scientific community (science adviser)". Since the 1970s onward, the National Command Authority is responsible for policy formulation and will exercise employment and development control over all strategic nuclear forces and strategic organizations. It consists of an Employment Control Committee and a Development Control Committee, as well as the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) which acts as its secretariat. The SPD is responsible for the management and administration of the country's tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile. It was created the same year as the NCA was formed. Their directives are to be operationalized by a new SPD under the control of a Director-General at the rank of Lieutenant-General (Air Marshal or Vice-Admiral) in charge of the management and administration of the tactical and strategic