Saleem Bukhari
Pakistan has taken a decisive step in reshaping its national security architecture with the launch of the National Intelligence Fusion and Threat Assessment Centre, known as NIFTAC. Housed under the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) and inaugurated in May 2025 by the Prime Minister in Islamabad, NIFTAC has already been branded by officials and analysts as the country’s “Pentagon-style” hub. It is the first serious attempt to bring together the scattered strands of intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism efforts into a centralized framework. In a nation long challenged by terrorism, militancy, organized crime, and fragile provincial–federal coordination, NIFTAC could mark the beginning of a new era in Pakistan’s approach to both domestic and external threats.
For years, one of Pakistan’s deepest weaknesses in counterterrorism and national security has not been the absence of intelligence, but the fragmentation of it. The country has no shortage of agencies collecting information like the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Military Intelligence (MI), provincial Counter Terrorism Departments (CTD), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Customs and Immigration authorities, NADRA, financial watchdogs, and a dozen more. Each one has its mandate, each one its methods, but historically they have operated in silos. Time and again, tragic events in Pakistan’s recent history have been followed by official inquiries that revealed the same pattern, one agency had vital information, another had corroborating evidence, yet the dots were never connected in time. Whether due to institutional rivalries, bureaucratic inertia, or a culture of secrecy, the failure to share information has cost the country dearly.
It is against this backdrop that NIFTAC was conceived and approved by NACTA’s Board of Governors in April 2025. Its ambition is not modest. Unlike creating yet another intelligence agency, the project aims to function as a fusion and coordination platform, serving as a national clearinghouse for intelligence and a decision support tool for policymakers. Located in the capital, it will act as the federal center, while each province, as well as Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, will host a PIFTAC, Provincial Intelligence Fusion and Threat Assessment Centre. Together, this network is designed to establish Pakistan’s first genuine national security dashboard, where information flows upward from local authorities and alerts are pushed downward from the center, ensuring that the country responds as a unified whole.
More than fifty organizations have been formally linked to NIFTAC’s network. These include police forces, provincial CTDs, the FIA, ISI, IB, MI, Customs, Immigration, NADRA, the Financial Monitoring Unit, regulators overseeing telecom and transport, and even civilian ministries that have a stake in security. The logic is simple, threats no longer come neatly labeled as “terrorism” or “crime” or “financial fraud.” They are interconnected. A terrorist network may fund its operations through smuggling; a hostile foreign actor may exploit loopholes in immigration; a cyberattack may coincide with a physical attack on critical infrastructure. Only a system that sees across silos can hope to detect these patterns early.
The functions assigned to NIFTAC are ambitious and layered. First is the fusion of raw intelligence, multiple inputs from multiple agencies need to be merged, compared, de-conflicted, and analyzed so that policymakers are not overwhelmed by noise. Second is real-time threat assessment. By drawing on multiple streams of information and modern analytic tools, the center aims to provide alerts that are not only timely but also reliable. Third is operational support, which means that once a threat has been identified and assessed, NIFTAC will help coordinate the joint operations, interdictions, or arrests needed to neutralize it. Finally, there is the technological backbone, a secure national database, encrypted communications, and analytic software that can visualize trends, forecast emerging dangers, and aid decision-making at both the federal and provincial levels.
Supporters of the initiative describe NIFTAC as a turning point. For the first time, Pakistan could have the ability to detect threats faster than adversaries can act. In practice, this could mean the difference between foiling a bombing plot before it matures, identifying a foreign-sponsored disinformation campaign before it destabilizes communities, or intercepting financial flows that could fund insurgencies. By creating a smooth link between provinces and the center, the system promises to reduce the delays that once plagued the coordination of responses. For policymakers, it provides not just raw data but strategic forecasting, allowing the state to anticipate rather than merely react.
It is also significant that the scope of NIFTAC extends beyond terrorism. While counterterrorism remains a core priority, the center has been explicitly tasked with addressing wider national security challenges like cyber threats, organized crime, financial crime, smuggling, and even transnational risks that could affect Pakistan’s external standing. This reflects a recognition that the security environment of the 21st century is multi-dimensional, and that resilience requires a holistic approach.
Globally, the model is not without precedent. The United States has long relied on fusion centers, where state and federal agencies cooperate to share intelligence. The United Kingdom operates the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), which provides national-level assessments. The European Union maintains crisis centers for coordinated response. What sets Pakistan’s experiment apart is the scale of its ambition, to fuse not just counterterrorism intelligence but the entire spectrum of security-related data across a fragmented federation. Analysts suggest that, if it succeeds, it could be one of the most comprehensive models in the developing world.
Calling NIFTAC “Pentagon-style” may sound like a metaphor, but it reveals something deeper about its design. The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., is not just a building; it is the central nervous system of America’s defense establishment, a place where the military, intelligence, and planners converge. While NIFTAC is not a defense headquarters and does not command troops, it aspires to play a similar role for Pakistan, bringing together disparate entities under one roof to ensure coherence in vision and response. In a sense, it is an attempt to translate the Pentagon’s logic of integration into Pakistan’s context of intelligence and internal security.
Yet, the road ahead is far from smooth. The history of Pakistan’s security institutions is marked by turf wars, institutional pride, and guarded secrecy. The question is whether the agencies that have long been reluctant to share information will truly embrace this new culture of cooperation. Equally pressing is the challenge of data security. Housing the nation’s most sensitive intelligence in one place creates an attractive target for hostile actors. Robust cyber defenses, strict access controls, and advanced encryption will be indispensable, and any breach could be catastrophic. There is also the question of political neutrality. For NIFTAC to be effective, it must function as a national institution insulated from the political turbulence that often engulfs Pakistan. If it becomes a tool of partisan agendas, its credibility will erode.
Another challenge lies in technology and capacity. For NIFTAC to truly serve as a 21st-century fusion center, it must invest in artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and predictive modeling. This requires not only financial investment but also human expertise, analysts trained in data science, linguistics, geopolitics, and cyber forensics. Without this, the center risks becoming another bureaucratic structure rather than a cutting-edge institution. Despite these caveats, NIFTAC has already raised expectations. Its inauguration was accompanied by confident assertions that Pakistan’s long-standing intelligence gaps may finally be bridged. The optimism is not unfounded. A country that has endured decades of instability, insurgency, and terrorism is now attempting to institutionalize a system that does not just fight the last war but anticipates the next. If the promises are fulfilled, NIFTAC could become a model for other states grappling with fragmented security apparatuses and complex threat environments.
What NIFTAC symbolizes is perhaps even more important than what it currently does. It reflects a shift in mindset, from reactive firefighting to proactive planning, from isolated silos to integrated networks, from secrecy-driven compartmentalization to calculated transparency among agencies. This cultural shift will take time, but the creation of a permanent institution is the first brick in that foundation.
In the end, Pakistan’s experiment with NIFTAC will be judged by results. Can it prevent the next major terrorist attack? Can it anticipate the next wave of cyber threats? Can it provide policymakers with insights that shape smarter foreign and domestic policies? These are the questions that will determine whether NIFTAC becomes Pakistan’s Pentagon or fades into the background noise of bureaucratic acronyms.
For now, though, its launch has been met with cautious optimism. In a region where threats are evolving and alliances are shifting, Pakistan’s decision to centralize its intelligence may prove to be one of the most consequential reforms of this decade. If NIFTAC delivers on its promise, the country may finally achieve what has long eluded it, a coherent, timely, and effective national security response system.
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