India is now in the final stages of appointing its first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), a move that analysts say is just the start of much-needed defence reforms for the country to face changing national security threats, most notably by its nuclear-armed neighbours China and Pakistan. However, without a CDS, the Integrated Defence Staff was a “bureaucratic lightweight that was easily side-lined by the three services”, said Anit Mukherjee, a former Indian army officer who now teaches at RSIS.