Intelligence and National Security Discussion

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member_28440
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by member_28440 »

Mahesh_R wrote:
Bodhita wrote:..........However the crucial evidence they ignored was that the wife's feet were touching the ground while she was found hanging.
Just curious why would the cops miss anything that simple ?
clearly this case is NOT related to any of politician which they do not want to dig further ..
why would our police or IB or CBI let go of these cases ... I mean they don't get any benefit for doing this...
Late October last year...
MYSTERY SHROUDS DEATH OF TOP BUREAUCRAT, WIFE

A joint-secretary-level official of the Government of India and his wife, a senior manager of a private bank, were found killed in mysterious circumstances at their official residence at Kaka Nagar in the South East Delhi on Friday. The throat of 57-year-old K Vijay Kumar, Advisor, Costing in the Union Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies, was found slit and his body was lying on the bed, while his wife, Sita (53), was found hanging from the ceiling fan. However, as her legs were touching the floor, it appears that she was first killed and then hanged.


This is just one of the case including the recent case of the RAW official in a serious of mysterious suicided incidents...
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

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The mysterious death of RAW officer Ananya Chakraborty and his family

The official story so far – “We suspect Ananya first went to his son’s room as he was sleeping (on his stomach) alone and hit him behind his head with the hammer and then slit his throat. He latched the door from outside and then went to the other room where he hit his wife and daughter on their heads and face and then cut their throats with a coconut chopper. The two were found to have been dragged below the bed,” a senior investigator, present at the crime scene throughout, said. Ananya, sources said, then is believed to have walked to the drawing room where he removed a table and used a three-legged stool to hang himself from the ceiling fan.

There are many questions however that doesn’t support this theory of ‘cold-blooded multiple murder act, planned with cool precision’.

1. It is reported that Ananya snapped the landline phone wire, switched off all cellphones, put off the mains switch, and then proceeded with the mayhem. This means he didn’t wanted to raise an alarm. In that case why did he resort to such a barbarous method of killing using a hammer, chopper and a coconut knife to kill his family that could have very well created a chaos and raised an alarm. Being a RAW officer he could have well poisoned everyone including himself; quiiet and easy. Interestingly, he was armed with two different kinds of choppers and a claw hammer, which is not normal for a murder in a fit of rage as is being told.

2. How did he manage to do this using three different tools and without even raising an alarm ? The wife and daughter were sleeping in the same bedroom. Both have multiple head injuries and slit throat. Their bodies have been dragged from the bed onto the floor.

3. Are government officials prone to such depression and heinous acts or is it some other play at work ? The cops investigating the case were reminded of the death of a deputy director in the defence ministry and his wife, a classical dancer, in mysterious circumstances at their home at Hudco Place, south Delhi, in March, 2012. The bureaucrat had burnt his wife to death before setting himself on fire, police had concluded.

4. In October last year IAS Officer Vijay Kumar was found dead along with his wife in similar condition. It was concluded after investigation that the wife killed him by sliting his throat and hanged herself later. The murder angle was not investigated further as they didn’t find any evidence of forced entry. However the crucial evidence they ignored was that the wife’s feet were touching the ground while she was hanging. These are just a couple of cases in a series of such mysterious deaths.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by wig »

shocking story -Retired Soldier Leaks Army Secrets to ISI
At a time when the armed forces are going through a rough patch that has witnessed muckraking, politicking and the loss of lives due to the protracted use of defective equipment, the discovery that Pakistan’s Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) has penetrated into the Indian military apparatus has come as an unexpected blow to the Ministry of Defence.

When Inderpal Singh Kushwaha, who has served as personal assistant to several senior Army officers, received visitors at his Cariappa Marg residence in Jhansi Cantonment on February 23, it was not business as usual. Sleuths from the Anti-Terror Unit (ATU) tracking the footprints of a suspected ISI mole, working for Pakistan from within the Army, were armed with intelligence inputs suggesting that Kushwaha may be guilty of aiding a spy. A top Army source said the 51-year-old mole had shipped top military secrets to his ISI handler Sikander in Pakistan. The arrest of the mole has thrown the South Block into a state of fear. The secret documents recovered from Kushwaha’s residence included deployment details of the Army’s Arjun tank regiments, CDs containing classified information on war games, classified minutes of the meetings involving senior army officers, a copy of a presentation done by the Gorkha regiment, the annual confidential reports of Army officers and more. Suspicious financial transactions brought Kushwaha onto the Intel radar; he was immediately put on electronic surveillance.

Source revealed that Kushwaha, who retired as a subedar in October, 2013, had used his position to gain access to the files. ATU sleuths also recovered CDs containing secret coded communications downloaded from the Army’s intranet server.

Some of the seized documents date as far back as 2005, suggesting that the damage done was extensive. Kushwaha’s last posting was as personal assistant to the Brigadier of 31 Artillery brigade in Jhansi, a specialised unit dedicated to providing heavy weapons support during war. Kushwaha had been posted at various places including Kota, Jaipur and Siliguri.

“What is shocking is the recovery from his possession, the ultra sensitive minutes of senior Army officers’ meetings and also specific details of tank deployments. So far, four banks accounts in his name in the ICICI, PNB and SBI have been unearthed and a team of officials are already examining the transactions,” sources said. Investigators feel that further interrogation of the ISI mole would reveal more ISI spies in the Army. “Although over 30 ISI modules have been neutralised in the past three years, the documents recovered reveal that he was the biggest ISI mole who had access to top-secret documents,” they added.
http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/ ... xYJy_mSyfg
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by Sid »

^^^

Wonder why MOD is shocked this time only, were they sleeping when they neutralized 30 such agents in past 3 years?

There have been ISI moles in army since ages, same goes for Porki army.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

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Army jawan shoots dead five colleagues, kills self

SRINAGAR: An Army soldier on Thursday shot five colleagues dead at point blank range when they were sleeping before committing suicide in Jammu & Kashmir's Ganderbal district.

"A soldier of a Rashtriya Rifles unit ran amok in the early hours, killing five soldiers before killing himself," an Army spokesman said.

The incident took place inside the Army camp of 13 Rashtriya Rifles at Safapora. A court of inquiry has been ordered into the incident, he said.

According to sources, the soldier, who was posted on sentry duty at the camp, entered one of the barracks at around 2.00am and opened indiscriminate firing on his sleeping colleagues.

They said five soldiers were killed and another injured in the firing before the jawan went on to shoot himself.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by Philip »

Vodafone,the Trojan horse?!

Is Vodafone India passing on calls data to UK intelligence? In what could be fresh trouble for India’s number-two telecom firm, it has emerged the home ministry has raised concerns about the company passing on communication details from its Indian customers to an intelligence agency in the UK.

Read more at: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world- ... ef_article
In what could be fresh trouble for India’s number-two telecom firm, it has emerged the home ministry has raised concerns about the company passing on communication details from its Indian customers to an intelligence agency in the UK. Reports in several newspapers Monday said the finance ministry, in a letter dated February 20, has asked the Department of Telecom to look into concerns raised by a December note written by the Ministry of Home Affairs that said that "leading telecom firms, including Vodafone, are learnt to be secretly collaborating with UK's intelligence and security agency GCHQ and passing on details of their customers phone calls and other communication." Three newspapers said they had accessed the memo. The matter assumes significance in light of a proposal by Vodafone India’s British parent to buy out the remaining minority stake in the Indian subsidiary it doesn’t already own at a cost of about Rs 10,000 crore. The proposal, the first after the government allowed 100 percent foreign direct investment in the telecom sector, has already been cleared by both the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA). Also read: FIPB clears Vodafone proposal The home ministry note also referred to the tax case it is fighting with the government in which authorities have said it owes around Rs 11,000 crore after buying stake in the Indian arm from a foreign company. The note also said the Vodafone Group was a tax evader in the UK. "Realignment of Vodafone India, without settling pending tax issues which may have ramification on similar deals with other entities, is not advisable from economic angle. The Department of Economic Affairs may consider those facts while processing FIPB proposal," the MHA note reportedly said. Typically, both agencies look closely into security concerns before approving any major investment proposal, a fact mentioned by Vodafone in its rejoinder to the reports. "No such concern has been raised with us by the Indian Government. The Government of India’s approval of our FDI application states that it was cleared by the FIPB and CCEA after all necessary due diligence," the group said in its reply. "Vodafone complies with the law in all of our countries of operation, including -- in the case of our European businesses -- the EU Privacy Directive and EU Data Retention Directive." Vodafone does not disclose any customer data in any jurisdiction unless it is legally required to do so and has never been accused of tax evasion, the firm added.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by abhishek_sharma »

Lunch with the FT: Prince Turki al-Faisal
I am curious to hear his assessment of America’s intelligence capabilities today. I ask him to rank the best in the world in terms of data gathering, interpretation of data, and operations. Turki relishes the question.

“In terms of raw data, definitely the Americans have it over everybody because of their technical and financial means,” he says. “In terms of human resources, I would rate the British as having the most expert human capabilities on specific subjects – at that time [when he was head of Saudi intelligence], of course, it was the Soviet Union – the bane of everybody. To get a first-hand report from a British analyst always had that extra edge and knowledge that you felt comfortable in accepting as being authoritative. Probably in terms of operational capability and in terms of unleashing your capabilities, I would say the Israelis are the most professional, although they’ve committed lots of mistakes. But they do accomplish their missions.”

No mention of the Chinese? “That’s what has changed the most since 2001,” he says. “I can only tell you that Chinese intelligence didn’t loom large in those days.”
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by Mahesh_R »

Bodhita wrote:This is just one of the case including the recent case of the RAW official in a serious of mysterious suicided incidents...
sir.. again.. are our cops incompetent ? or ignoring due to some pressure ?
incompetent ? no.. i believe we do have best of the guys but can't do their job due to pressure
pressure ? why will MoD or HM will let go so easily when their resources are eliminated ?
it will be a bad example for the rest of the force if they do not act..

there should be some reason we are not aware...
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

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Mahesh_R wrote:
Bodhita wrote:This is just one of the case including the recent case of the RAW official in a serious of mysterious suicided incidents...
sir.. again.. are our cops incompetent ? or ignoring due to some pressure ?
incompetent ? no.. i believe we do have best of the guys but can't do their job due to pressure
pressure ? why will MoD or HM will let go so easily when their resources are eliminated ?
it will be a bad example for the rest of the force if they do not act..

there should be some reason we are not aware...

There could be many reasons for this, however one just need to corrupt the controlling authority in any system and the rest is easily taken care of.

For instance in the case of Sunanda Pushkar...
According to a directive by Delhi’s lieutenant governor, controversial and mysterious cases like Sunanda’s should be handled by a three-member medical panel. The reason: a single doctor conducting a post mortem could be manipulated or influenced by interested parties. Logically, one would assume that the three doctors would be from different hospitals or mortuaries.

Curiously, in Sunanda’s case, they were from the same hospital, AIIMS, and from the same department — forensic medicine. The panel was headed by Sudhir Kumar Gupta, professor and head of department, and included Adarsh Kumar, assistant professor, and Shashank Pooniya, senior resident. This created the first doubt about the veracity and objectivity of the post-mortem report.

A forensics doctor from another hospital asked: “How can the three-member panel be dubbed independent or impartial, if it was headed by the senior-most doctor in a department, and included two junior colleagues? Could the juniors question the conclusions reached by their senior? Wouldn’t the fear of a bad annual confidential report, which a senior submits about his juniors, compel the latter to toe the head of department’s line?”

Several sources that India Legal spoke to maintained that this had become the norm with the Delhi police. In several cases in the past few years, the post-mortem panel of doctors was constituted to include forensic professionals from the same hospital or mortuary. This helped the police to extricate a tailor-made report that proved its suspicions, rather than raise fresh questions.

In fact, there have been a few cases where post-mortem reports were conducted by independent panels, which provided breakthroughs to the police. One such case dealt with the death of Anju Illyasi, the wife of TV journalist Suhaib Illyasi, in January 2000. One of the panel members concluded that the knife wounds on her body were not self-inflicted and, therefore, it was a case of murder, and not suicide. This forced the investigators to pursue a different path.

A source who insisted on anonymity alleged there was informal pressure from the union health ministry, which monitored AIIMS and Delhi police in such criminal cases, to gloss over uncomfortable issues that Sunanda’s post-mortem would have raised. Although this could not be proved conclusively, the post-mortem did seem like an exercise in haste.
Sunanda Pushkar – How Did She Die ?
Mahesh_R
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by Mahesh_R »

^^^ agreed sir.. the above example was not related to officer in charge of public services..
let us say one of colleague in RAW or MoD is killed by vested interests and if MoD or HM doesn't take any action or reaches the conclusion without making serious investigation then why would I work so hard for this country when my family could face the similar fate ? and my moral is going to be all time low ..would be looking to get transferred to CBI and make money by investigating cases against corrupt babu's or took a voluntary retirement.. ..
member_28440
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by member_28440 »

^^^ Yes exactly. It's a pattern. Officers working with Intelligence Services are murdered brutally along with their family and that is a warning to all others. It's sad to see political/judicial machinery has no vision to tackle such incidents.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by member_25400 »

Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai, chief of staff of India's Andamans and Nicobar Command, told Reuters. "It's possible that the military radars were switched off as we operate on an 'as required' basis." (to save costs)

Also that there were only 3 radar stations, each with a coverage of ~150 km.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/ ... JT20140315

I'd expect at least random sampling/sweeps....
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by symontk »

CBI is a public organization, it cannot investigate cases for which secrecy is required. Do you expect information to be public for the investigations done for RAW / IB officer deaths?
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by nits »

How IM's top terrorist helped sleuths nab Zaveri Bazaar bomber
Indian Mujahideen’s new chief Tehsin Akhtar was arrested quite a few days ago, but security agencies decided to keep the news under wraps to entrap fellow terror operative Waqar Ahmed and three other terrorists of the IM.Tehsin was arrested from Samastipur near the India-Nepal border in Bihar, said sources in the Intelligence Bureau.Tehsin was on his way to Nepal to raise funds to organise more terror strikes, said sources.

During interrogation, he revealed that IM terrorists were planning a major operation in Rajasthan and told his interrogators about Waqas Ahmed, a Pakistan-based operative and an expert bomb-maker.Tehsin told his interrogators that he was in touch with Waqas via e-mail.This is when security agencies realised that they could nab Waqas and other IM operatives -- who did not yet know that Tehsin has been arrested -- by using the IM chief.

They made Tehsin send out a mail to Waqas, asking the latter to meet him at a spot in Ajmer.When Waqas reached the rendezvous spot at Ajmer, he found officials of the Intelligence Bureau and Delhi police waiting for him, along with local policemen.Waqas told investigators that he, along with three other operatives, was planning to target political leaders on the campaign trail as well as bomb a luxury train in the desert state.Waqas then revealed the whereabouts of his three associates, who were arrested promptly by Delhi police.
tushar_m

Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by tushar_m »

If Narendra Modi wins election, neighbours can expect a more muscular India
India will get tougher on territorial disputes with China and in its old rivalry with Pakistan if opposition leader Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister in May after a general election, two of his aides said.

Modi, who is the front-runner to win the five-week election starting on April 7, has taken an aggressive tone against the two neighbouring nations. On the campaign trail, he has warned Beijing to shed its "mindset of expansionism" and in the past he has railed against Pakistan for attacks by Muslim militants in India.

"I swear in the name of the soil that I will protect this country," Modi said at a rally in Arunachal Pradesh last month, a region claimed by China.

India, China and Pakistan are all nuclear powers. They are also jockeying to take positions in Afghanistan as Western troops start to withdraw from the war-torn nation after a 12-year insurgency.

India has fought three wars with Pakistan and had a 1962 border skirmish with China. It came close to a fourth war with Pakistan in 2001 but since then, its foreign policy has been mostly benign.

Modi has painted the ruling Congress, which has been in power for more than 50 of the 67 years since India became independent, as weak on national security. However, the country is one of the top buyers worldwide of military hardware, purchasing about $12.7 billion in arms during 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, everything from basic military goods to an aircraft carrier.

Modi's two advisers said that while his foreign policy would be muscular, it would also aim to keep a lid on regional tensions to allow a focus on reviving the economy.

"Ours will be an economy-driven foreign policy and the whole idea is to build India's economy so solidly that you can deal with other countries on our own terms," said a strategist involved in formulating the manifesto of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

As leader of the economic-powerhouse state of Gujarat for more than a decade, Modi has courted investment from China. As prime minister, the advisers say, he would seek to steer a course between defending India's security interests and growing business links with the world's second-biggest economy.

"The Chinese will understand the new PM is not a wimp and they won't do anything adventurous," the BJP strategist said.
:D :D :D
chetak
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by chetak »

tushar_m wrote:If Narendra Modi wins election, neighbours can expect a more muscular India
India will get tougher on territorial disputes with China and in its old rivalry with Pakistan if opposition leader Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister in May after a general election, two of his aides said.

Modi, who is the front-runner to win the five-week election starting on April 7, has taken an aggressive tone against the two neighbouring nations. On the campaign trail, he has warned Beijing to shed its "mindset of expansionism" and in the past he has railed against Pakistan for attacks by Muslim militants in India.

"I swear in the name of the soil that I will protect this country," Modi said at a rally in Arunachal Pradesh last month, a region claimed by China.

India, China and Pakistan are all nuclear powers. They are also jockeying to take positions in Afghanistan as Western troops start to withdraw from the war-torn nation after a 12-year insurgency.

India has fought three wars with Pakistan and had a 1962 border skirmish with China. It came close to a fourth war with Pakistan in 2001 but since then, its foreign policy has been mostly benign.

Modi has painted the ruling Congress, which has been in power for more than 50 of the 67 years since India became independent, as weak on national security. However, the country is one of the top buyers worldwide of military hardware, purchasing about $12.7 billion in arms during 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, everything from basic military goods to an aircraft carrier.

Modi's two advisers said that while his foreign policy would be muscular, it would also aim to keep a lid on regional tensions to allow a focus on reviving the economy.

"Ours will be an economy-driven foreign policy and the whole idea is to build India's economy so solidly that you can deal with other countries on our own terms," said a strategist involved in formulating the manifesto of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

As leader of the economic-powerhouse state of Gujarat for more than a decade, Modi has courted investment from China. As prime minister, the advisers say, he would seek to steer a course between defending India's security interests and growing business links with the world's second-biggest economy.

"The Chinese will understand the new PM is not a wimp and they won't do anything adventurous," the BJP strategist said.
:D :D :D

All the same, expect mischief from both good friends when the new government takes over, just to check what has changed, if anything.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by shiv »

Come on folks! Here is an article to read and then start flaming, cursing and killing each other about why we disagree with the next's guy's view on the issue.

Fight on..

-from Livefist
http://www.livefistdefence.com/2014/03/ ... urity.html
MH370, Switched-Off Radars & Security Lapses: Clearing Misconceptions
That Indian radars on the Andamans operate intermittently is not necessarily a security failure. Any moves to 'enhance' radar coverage over the archipelago at the expense of other sectors in the hope of catching the next potential hijack would be hasty and irresponsible.

As the search for Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 intensifies and new information comes to light, one of the hypotheses being advanced by several analysts is that the aircraft may have entered airspace that was under the coverage of Indian military radars on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for at least a short while. At the same time, some Indian government officials and military commanders have declared that those radars did not operate round-the-clock, and may have been switched off when the flight went missing. These comments have prompted a lot of debate about the purported security lapse that the loss of radar coverage represents. I thought it would be a useful to put these comments in their proper context and determine if the incident truly exposed a gaping hole in India's security.

The radars being spoken about are long-range air search radars, also known as volume search radars (VSRs). There is a misconception that such systems are operated round-the-clock as a matter of course. In reality, this is rarely the case. Getting VSRs, especially the legacy systems presently in Indian Air Force (IAF) service, to operate continuously is not only very expensive, but also very challenging. They consume copious amounts of power: the normal operating power of the THD-1955, the primary VSR in Indian service, is 2 MW; its peak operating power is 20 MW. The fuel to operate the generators supplying electricity to VSRs and other supporting systems on the A&N Islands has to be shipped from the Indian mainland at great cost. Moreover, these radars have heavy mechanically scanned antennae. That involves moving parts. And moving parts -- especially those that operate under heavy loads for long durations -- tend to experience failure at a rate that is directly proportional to their operating hours. The wear-and-tear is only accelerated by the harsh environment these radars are exposed to -- wind storms, rain, salt spray, and so on. They require constant maintenance and a steady supply of spares to keep working as desired, both of which are always in short supply on a remote island chain.

The key question, though, is, does the Indian threat scenario on the A&N Islands necessitate continuous air surveillance? The short answer to that question is, "no".

Let me flesh out what I'm saying. There is little doubt that the Andaman and Nicobar island chain is of great strategic significance to India, seeing that it sits astride the Straits of Malacca, one of the most vital shipping lanes in the world and a major Indian trade route. The tri-service A&N Command fulfills two primary objectives: it allows India to monitor activity (military and civilian) in the region, and rapidly deploy military if need be to secure its interests. What it does not do is defend against a major military offensive along the Andaman-Nicobar axis. That makes it very unlike, for instance, the South-Western Air Command or the Eastern Air Command, which have been set up to prosecute an air war against professional military adversaries.

Coming to the allocation of equipment itself, it should be remembered that military assets are deployed on the basis of known/projected threat scenarios. Given limited budgets, it is impossible for defences to be strong everywhere. So military staffs have to allocate resources carefully, making defences strong in some sectors and leaving them relatively weak in others.

In India's case, those defences have to be strong along axes from where Chinese and Pakistani attacks would arise. I wouldn't be surprised if some other commands operated radars far more frequently than A&N Command did. After all, the IAF did manage to detect and track the Pakistan Navy Atlantique that came close to entering Indian airspace in 1999, and scramble fighters in time to intercept it. On the other hand, the probability of an air attack from the A&N quarter is remote.

Thus, for the A&N Command's given role, maintaining round-the-clock coverage would be overkill, and indicative of a more aggressive military posture in the region. On the other hand, intermittent radar coverage, combined with data from passive electronic sensors, satellite imagery, and naval vessels, would serve to build a reasonably complete picture of the threats and military deployments in the region while allowing the armed forces to maintain acceptable levels of training and readiness.

These arguments would obviously lead one question the validity of this approach in a world where terrorists and non-state-actors pose a significant threat. Here, it needs to be pointed out that such strikes are by nature highly unpredictable, completely unexpected, and often carried out where defences are the weakest. While counter-terrorism strategies are beyond the scope of this discussion, it is well understood that the path to reducing risk lies in improved intelligence gathering and analysis of available information. The utility of hastily deploying of war-fighting equipment to perform a role it is unsuited for, in reaction to a one-off event, is questionable at best.

So it comes as no surprise to me that air search radars on the A&N Islands were turned off even as flight MH370 possibly entered airspace that they typically monitor. It is not necessarily a bad thing, and certainly not a security failure. If anything, a knee-jerk reaction to this incident -- compromising coverage available to Indian defences in the sectors under greater threat by re-deploying them to deal with one-of-a-kind black swan events -- would be a very real security lapse.

(Mihir Shah is a US-based engineer who tracks aerospace issues closely. He has contributed before to Livefist and Pragati magazine. Views expressed by the author are his own.)
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by Aditya_V »

Given time, we should have some Arudya radars in A&N, thats after securing Paki border, NE and full CHinese border and Penunsula. These AESA's should be much more cost effective to operate.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by sum »

Have to catch hold of this book:
ISI tried to hijack Rajiv-piloted plane
Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had planned to hijack a plane steered by Rajiv Gandhi, then a pilot with Indian Airlines, in 1971, but the Indian spy agency thwarted it by arresting one of the agents hired by the neighbouring country, a soon-to-be-released book by former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer R K Yadav has claimed.

The book, “Mission R&AW”, said the author, will deal with a variety of issues involving the spy agency, and important incidents like the 1962 conflict with China and the role of Indian intelligence agencies in the 1965 war with Pakistan, among other issues.

In his book, Yadav describes how the RAW, under the leadership of R N Kao, thwarted the ISI attempt to hijack a plane from Srinagar.

“This was in early 1971. The agency arrested an ISI agent in Srinagar, and during questioning, he told his interrogators he was there to hijack a plane. The plan was to hijack a plane in which Rajiv Gandhi was the pilot,” Yadav told Deccan Herald.

However, the RAW leadership decided to use this to get back at the ISI. They made the agent “hijack” a plane and it was landed in Lahore.

“This incident gave us the opportunity to ban flights from Pakistan from using our airspace, and hampering military transport to East Pakistan (Bangladesh). This was a masterstroke from Kao,” he said
. :twisted: :twisted:
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by anmol »

So You Think You're Smarter Than A CIA Agent
by Alix Spiegel, npr.org
April 2nd 2014
Listen to the Story
Morning EditionDownload

The morning I met Elaine Rich, she was sitting at the kitchen table of her small town home in suburban Maryland trying to estimate refugee flows in Syria.

It wasn't the only question she was considering, there were others:

Will North Korea launch a new multi-stage missile before May 1, 2014?

Will Russian armed forces enter Kharkiv, Ukraine, by May 10?Rich's answers to these questions would eventually be evaluated by the intelligence community, but she didn't feel much pressure because this wasn't her full-time gig.

"I'm just a pharmacist," she said. "Nobody cares about me, nobody knows my name, I don't have a professional reputation at stake. And it's this anonymity which actually gives me freedom to make true forecasts."

Rich does make true forecasts; she is curiously good at predicting future world events.

Better Than The Pros

For the last three years, Rich and 3,000 other average people have been quietly making probability estimates about everything from Venezuelan gas subsidies to North Korean politics as part of the Good Judgment Project, an experiment put together by three well-known psychologists and some people inside the intelligence community.

According to one report, the predictions made by the Good Judgment Project are often better even than intelligence analysts with access to classified information, and many of the people involved in the project have been astonished by its success at making accurate predictions.

When Rich, who is in her 60s, first heard about the experiment, she didn't think that she would be especially good at predicting world events. She didn't know a lot about international affairs and she hadn't taken much math in school.

But she signed up, got a little training in how to estimate probabilities from the people running the program, and then was given access to a website that listed dozens of carefully worded questions on events of interest to the intelligence community, along with a place for her to enter her numerical estimate of their likelihood.

"The first two years I did this, all you do is choose numbers," she told me. "You don't have to say anything about what you're thinking, you don't have to justify your numbers. You just choose numbers and then see how your numbers work out."

Rich's numbers worked out incredibly well.

She's in the top 1 percent of the 3,000 forecasters now involved in the experiment, which means that she has been classified as a super forecaster, someone who is extremely accurate when predicting stuff like:

Will there be a significant attack on Israeli territory before May 10, 2014?

The Super Forecasters

In fact, she's so good she's been put on a special team with other super forecasters whose predictions are reportedly 30 percent better than intelligence officers with access to actual classified information.

Rich and her teammates are that good even though all the information they use to make their predictions is available to anyone with access to the Internet.

When I asked if she goes to obscure Internet sources, she shook her head no.

"Usually I just do a Google search," she said.

And that raises this question:

How is it possible that a group of average citizens doing Google searches in their suburban town homes can outpredict members of the United States intelligence community with access to classified information?

How can that be?

Lessons From A Dead Ox

"Everyone has been surprised by these outcomes," said Philip Tetlock, one of the three psychologists who came up with the idea for the Good Judgment Project. The other two are Barbara Mellers and Don Moore.

For most of his professional career, Tetlock studied the problems associated with expert decision making. His book Expert Political Judgment is considered a classic, and almost everyone in the business of thinking about judgment speaks of it with unqualified awe.

All of his study brought Tetlock to at least two important conclusions.

First, if you want people to get better at making predictions you need to keep score of how accurate their predictions turn out to be, so they have concrete feedback.

But also, if you take a large crowd of different people with access to different information and pool their predictions, you will be in much better shape than if you rely on a single very smart person, or even a small group of very smart people.

"The wisdom of crowds is a very important part of this project, and it's an important driver of accuracy," Tetlock said.

The wisdom of crowds is a concept first discovered by the British statistician Francis Galton in 1906.

Galton was at a fair where about 800 people had tried to guess the weight of a dead ox in a competition. After the prize was awarded, Galton collected all the guesses so he could figure out how far off the mark the average guess was.

It turned out that most of the guesses were really bad — way too high or way too low. But when Galton averaged them together, he was shocked:

The dead ox weighed 1,198 pounds. The crowd's average: 1,197.

Finding The True Signal

"There's a lot of noise, a lot of statistical random variation," Tetlock said. "But it's random variation around a signal, a true signal, and when you add all of the random variation on each side of the true signal together, you get closer to the true signal."

In other words, there are errors on every side of the mark, but there is a truth at the center that people are responding to, and if you average a large number of predictions together, the errors will end up canceling each other out, and you are left with a more accurate guess.

That is the wisdom of the crowd.

The point of the Good Judgment Project was to figure out if what was true for the dead ox is true for world events as well.

It is.

In fact, Tetlock and his team have even engineered ways to significantly improve the wisdom of the crowd — all of which greatly surprised Jason Matheny, one of the people in the intelligence community who got the experiment started.

"They've shown that you can significantly improve the accuracy of geopolitical forecasts, compared to methods that had been the state of the art before this project started," he said.

What's so challenging about all of this is the idea that you can get very accurate predictions about geopolitical events without access to secret information. In addition, access to classified information doesn't automatically and necessarily give you an edge over a smart group of average citizens doing Google searches from their kitchen tables.

How Will It Be Used?

Matheny doesn't think there's any risk that it will replace intelligence services as they exist.

"I think it's a complement to methods rather than a substitute," he said.

Matheny said that though Good Judgment predictions have been extremely accurate on the questions they've asked so far, it's not clear that this process will work in every situation.

"There are likely to be other types of question for which open source information isn't likely to be enough," he added.

In a couple of weeks, the Good Judgment Project will start recruiting more forecasters for its experiment, and Elaine Rich, the suburban Maryland pharmacist, thinks that more people like her should give it a shot.

"Health care people are not likely to be involved in international forecasting," she said. "But I have a feeling that many of them would be good at it."
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by Kati »

^^^^^
I was about to post the above article on Good Judgement Project.

Actually, the above project is not at all surprising, and don't know why it took so long for intel people to figure it out. Phillip tetlock, who is a psychologist, should know better since psychologists are supposed to take a lot of advanced applied statistics courses. The above Good Judgement Project is the result of a few classical mathematical statistics results, most notably, The central Limit theorem (CLT) (do a wiki search) which essentially says that if you take "measurements" (call it quantitative opinion) from multiple units/individuals, then this sample average will tend to the unknown population average (or, the "true average") as the sample size goes to infinity. CLT gives a measure of deviation of the sample average from the unknown population average. However, there are two other "limit theorems" which can be applied to arrive at the same conclusion too - The Strong law of large Numbers (SLLN), and The Weak law of Large Numbers (WLLN). These two law of large numbers differ in terms of type of probabilistic convergence.
The rule of thumb says that 9from CLT) usually a sample of size 30 or more can give a fairly good assessment about some unknown quantity.
....
Just my 2 paise.....
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by member_28539 »

Sorry if posted earlier...

http://www.vice.com/read/why-are-indian ... scientists

Now, this need not be just Eye-Ass-Eye but could be also Khan at work...

Interestingly though when my father was posted in one of airbases in Punjab we had a very interresting morning one day...there was a unexpected blast near the Army cantt. & subsequently an arrest was made during the day by MP...said to be an Pindi Agent guised as a garbage collector...roming around near army cantt. accidently found a peice of charge (of the arty shell)...negligently threw it into a fire he was standing near by to resulting in the blast..YO's around the area who I was friends with told me that the momin was very close to be handed his 72.. :rotfl:
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by anmol »

US agency that created “Cuban Twitter” faces political firestorm
by Joe Silver, arstechnica.com
April 4th 2014 1:25 PM

The head of the US government agency that oversaw the creation of a Twitter-like communications network in Cuba aimed at fueling political dissent against the communist government is expected to testify before Congress on Tuesday. One senator who will be hearing testimony next week has called the whole idea “dumb, dumb, dumb,” according to The Associated Press.

The program, codenamed ZunZuneo, was covertly established by US government agents. Run by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the subversion program was targeted at building a user base of young Cubans in hopes that they would use the service to voice opposition to the governing communist party.

By using a list of phone numbers provided by a worker at Cuba’s state-owned telecommunications company Cubacel, USAID workers began to send out mass text messages over the platform. Once the network reached a critical mass of users, the plan was for operators to introduce political content aimed at inspiring Cubans to organize “smart mobs." Ultimately, the project sought to trigger a “Cuban Spring” or to “renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society," the AP reported.

Rajiv Shah, the head of USAID, is scheduled to testify before the Senate Appropriations State Department and Foreign Operations Subcommittee. At the Tuesday hearing, Shah will likely face some tough questioning from a senator who seemed quite distraught after learning of the ZunZuneo project. In an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday, the chair of the Congressional subcommittee, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) ripped into the project.

A USAID spokesman, Matt Herrick, defended the program. “All of our work in Cuba, including this project, was reviewed in detail in 2013 by the Government Accountability Office and found to be consistent with US law and appropriate under oversight controls," he said.

Some administration officials also backed the program, explaining that it had been “debated” by Congress and that it did not qualify as a “covert operation,” which would have required authorization by the White House. However, neither former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton nor her successor John Kerry had knowledge of the program, State Department spokeswoman Mary Harf told the AP.

Others, like director of US Affairs at Cuba’s Foreign Ministry Josefina Vidal, have voiced their dissatisfaction after learning of the ZunZuneo program. Vidal and others argued that the USAID's actions were antithetical to the mission of a humanitarian relief agency. Vidal explained that the program “shows once again that the United States government has not renounced its plans of subversion against Cuba, which have as their aim the creation of situations of destabilization in our country to create changes in the public order.”

Interesting comment:
RagnarredbeardArs Praetorian
Fri Apr 04, 2014 12:41 pm
Ah, the USAID. That explains it all. They were also behind the possibly apochryphal story from the 70s that they sent large sized condoms in packages marked "regular" to Pakistan as some kind of psyop "Americans have big dicks" program.
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anmol
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by anmol »

So State Department is funding a mesh-net project similar to ZunZuneo in Cuba.... in Dharmshala INdia... (didn't they use some useful fools working in Dharmshala for the Khobragade project ?)

I guess for Springs in India, Nepal, Tibet, China.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commotion_Wireless

Commotion Wireless
by From Wikipedia, the free, en.wikipedia.org
April 23rd 2013 1:45 PM

Commotion Wireless is an open-source wireless mesh network for electronic communication.[1][2] The project was developed by the Open Technology Institute, and development included a $2 million dollar grant from the United States Department of State in 2011 for use as a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET), concomitant with the Arab Spring.[3][third-party source needed] It was preliminarily deployed in Detroit in late 2012[2][1], and launched generally in March 2013.[4] The project has been called an "Internet in a Suitcase".[5][6]
http://commotionwireless.net/about/where-its-used/

Where It's Used

commotionwireless.net | Dec 18th 2012

The Commotion project has pilot networks in Detroit, Red Hook and has built event networks at conferences such as the Allied Media Conference, National Conference for Media Reform, and International Summit for Community Wireless Networks.

International Training in Sayada, Tunisia

Open Technology Institute held a series of workshops on Commotion Wireless technology in Sayada, Tunisia in December 2013.

Learn More:

International Training in India

The Open Technology Institute traveled to Dharamshala, India in June 2013 for the first international Commotion Wireless workshop. Working with our local hosting partner AirJaldi, we convened over a dozen community technologists from across India and Nepal in the town nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas to get their feedback on OTI’s Commotion mesh technology. The workshop was an opportunity to strengthen not only the recent Developer Release 1.1 of the software, but also a global network of technology designers, implementers, and users who see users and communities as the prime source of innovation in information and communications technology.

[..]
anmol
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by anmol »

And New America Foundation(Board includes: Eric Schmidt, Fareed Zakaria, Son of George Soros, Walter Russel Mead, Anne Marie Slaughter etc) blogged about it:
oti.newamerica.net/blogposts/2013/commotion_travels_to_india_for_first_international_workshop-86838

Commotion Travels to India for first International Workshop
oti.newamerica.net | Jun 27th 2013

The Open Technology Institute traveled to Dharamshala, India the first week of June for the first international Commotion Wireless workshop. Working with our local hosting partner AirJaldi, we convened over a dozen community technologists from across India and Nepal in the town nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas to get their feedback on OTI’s Commotion mesh technology. The workshop was an opportunity to strengthen not only the recent Developer Release 1.1 of the software, but also a global network of technology designers, implementers, and users who see users and communities as the prime source of innovation in information and communications technology.

Some important ideas from the field, conversation, and debate that we brought home with us included:

1) Good community technology is defined by the ability of that community to break and repair it themselves.
2) Successful technology training and adoption needs a clear and common use in the participant’s life. If they don’t use it regularly, they won’t retain the information, or use the technology.
3) Internet access is not always the most important consideration - a local network can and should provide a local application first and foremost.
4) Strong, lasting networks are built through participatory planning and community engagement.

Over the course of the five day workshop, participants built a pilot Commotion network, developed plans for future networks and rallied around a common belief that communities should be able to build and govern their own communications infrastructure. The workshop took place the first week of June at the beautiful Dolma Ling Nunnery, and was co-hosted by AirJaldi, which has partnered on experimental technologies and workshops for many years.
Image
The diverse group of participants included network engineers, broadcast engineers, community organizers, educators and policy advocates from AirJaldi, Digital Empowerment Foundation, Gnowledge, IRMA, Janastu, Mahiti, Mojolab, Nepal Wireless, Nomad, and Open Knowledge Foundation. Attendees at the workshop brought visions for community technology, a desire to use mesh wireless in their work, and network plans to solidify.

On the first day, we established a common view that building a network is a complex social process, not only (or even primarily) a technical challenge, and that community governance and training are critical components of this process. In addition, by the end of that first day, participants had installed the Commotion software on Ubiquiti wireless routers, learned to configure and mesh those nodes, and then set off on their own to create a mesh network in and around their hotels, linking to the Commotion-powered node installed on the workshop rooftop across town.
Image
Using a shared visual language to plan and design a network.

The second day focused on planning mesh networks. Participants used a common visual language developed in our training programs in Detroit to draw plans for the networks they would like to build with Commotion. Later in the day, we went outside to experiment with Serval messaging (on Android devices), MediaGrid, and Commotion Linux on a mesh network created with battery-powered nodes. We learned a few good lessons about doing too many experimental things at once!

On the third and fourth days, the participants split into two teams and went into the field to build a nine node pilot network, combining three medium-distance links with a denser omni-directional mesh in the town of Norbulingka. The AirJaldi network provided two network gateways for Internet access. During the construction and testing process, we found that, even for a small network, there were many interesting complexities. After spending hours in the sun, OTI staff and the participants returned to the workshop space to experiment with Osmocom, an open implementation of the GSM standard for mobile telephony, and other technologies.
http://oti.newamerica.net/sites/newamer ... post_1.png
We spent so long trying to get the right angle for the long-distance link, we did not even realize it was working, and we had completed the mesh network.

The last day involved more experimentation as well as discussions about the regulatory environment in India, and the possibilities for using mesh technology in crisis response.

By the end of the workshop, some participants successfully installed Commotion Linux on their laptops, a participant meshed his Raspberry Pi device, and several maps and plans for new networks hung on the wall. We returned with invaluable suggestions for improvements to Commotion, including a list of accessible and affordable routers that we should actively test and support.

The workshop discussions were full of memorable visions for the Internet, community technology, and mesh wireless networks, where different groups of participants envisioned:

“The internet as a free, secure, decentralized, and inclusive media for all communities to overcome economic marginalization and local problems.”
Community-owned networks “that are built with low-cost devices, equally accessed, and resistant to blackouts.”
Community technology that is “by communities, for communities and integrating across various devices and technologies,” “peer-to-peer without centralized control or surveillance,” and “enabling local content creation and consumption and in the local context and language.”
Image
You never know when you might need a router and a battery pack!

Another common thread throughout the workshop was a shared approach to community tech education. Small groups brainstormed the following guidelines:

engage in peer-to-peer learning because it helps demystify technology
create a level of comfort around technology
build an awareness in communities about the available technology, so they can build from the knowledge and resources available
above all, break the fear of technology and show users that technology can be taken apart and put back together.

To this last point, one participant threw his phone to the ground, picked it up and put it back together - all to highlight the need for people to be able to break and fix the technology they rely on.
Image
Collaboratively building a pilot network allowed participants the opportunity to install, troubleshoot, and experiment with Commotion.

This theme continued throughout the workshop when the network needed troubleshooting or equipment did not work as expected. The process of troubleshooting and experimentation was an important component of the learning, and led to the discovery of a few bugs in the newest DR1.1 release. Even more valuable was the feedback from participants, which will continue to inform the direction of the Commotion project. The ideas and lessons coming out of the workshop are already being applied in the office to the Commotion code, to the training tools we use in our work, and in the networks we partner with in Detroit and Brooklyn.

At the end of the week-long workshop the network was working well, and demonstrated the properties of a dynamic mesh by allowing us to connect a portable node as we moved through a grassy field, down the dirt path to a rooftop restaurant to toast our successes and future collaborations.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by vijaykarthik »

@anmol, kati -- interesting days.

Incidentally, I am part of the superforecaaster group too and am feeling embarrassed by all those results. :-)

But what is mentioned of the results is very true and it is quite game-changing yes.

So how did I find about bharat-rakshak: by searching for some information for the project to answer a geopolitical qn to make my forecast and I see this site. WOW.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by vijaykarthik »

on seeing more...

@kati -- its pretty much based on limit theorems. But its than just that. its also about a daily statistical median amongst 120 super forecasters. And taking the best amongst them. Cherry picking, if you like. 8 teams of 15 each and we fight amongst ourselves as a team. That's how it works. And we are scored daily (using Brier scoring)

Btw, everyone is invited as a forecaster for season 4. Want to try @ anyone? check the main link or let me know if you need help on this.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by Kati »

Vijaykarthik-saar,
very very interesting...what you said about the super forecasters...8 teams with 15 members each.
Also, do you go by the median of each team, and then compile across the teams? if so, you are already neck-deep in statistical theory. The reason is - except theoretical statisticians, very few people would use median, and most of the time people use mean. Mean is fine as long as your group (or sample) size is large enough. But it can be proved theoretically that median is more model robust than the mean. Mean is "the" estimator to be used if the model is Gaussian. But many a times, model is non-Gaussian, and may be skewed. In such cases median is a far better bet, especially when the scoring can be wild.
Yeah, let me know how I can try your super forecasting stuff.......
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by member_28452 »

For the unfortunate murders of Intelligence people, doesn't the RAW/IB conduct their own investigation(may be not made public). It could also be a staged murder by the agency to prevent double agents?May be watching too much Spooks and such
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by rohitvats »

WRT the program in Dharamshala - all the points mentioned in the coverage picture are Tibetan joints. Norbulingka is a major monastery cum teaching institution plus arts center all rolled into one. Just as an aside, IIRC, IB has a listening station in Dharamshala...read that somewhere. Nothing can happen involving Tibetans which IB would not know about.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by vijaykarthik »

@kati - yes, median only.
The first season, they used the mean and then the admin and research team realized a bit late that outliers weren't getting dropped and were taking a lot more of space than they ideally should. So, the project reverted to the median in the middle of season 1 [or probably end of season 1? cant remember].

Now its in season 3 and there is a fair bit of exposure in the media.

try it @ https://goodjudgmentproject.com/ : there is an option to register and once registered, in a few weeks hopefully, people get a mail with links on how to go about it.

they don't take in superforecasters directly. One works his / her way up. Good luck! Feel free to let me know if you want help / want to discuss.
The project is funded by the IARPA and has a lot of hot names on the board.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by member_25399 »

^^^^^
This is hilarious, they were able to track it outside India, but lost it when it landed inside our country.
Kati
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by Kati »

^^^

Indeed, it is easier to track outside than inside.....

Just rec'd this following info from someone near the top in the chain of command in E. India
(when I raised this issue)...
grass root level e W.B.- Bangladesh riverine border e coastal security r ja karun abostha ta chokhe na dekhle bissas korbena. Coast Guard Sunderban er creeks e dhukbena athocho oguloi arms pacharer route. W.B. police er coastal police station gulo r infrastructure dekhle matha kharap hoye jabe. N 24 Pgns e Hemnagar P.S. e duto motor boat ache but chalok akjon. Motor boat kharap hole sarate minimum 1 year lage, tar thekeo baro katha motor boat er diesel nei. Sob i namo namo kore cholche. Pratyek bachor centre khonj nei ekhane ki ki darkar, bas oi porjyontoi, kichui pathano hoina.
[Translation]
The situation at the grass-root level of the West Bengal-Bangladesh border can't be understood enough unless you see it first-hand. In the Sunderban area, the Coast Guard won't enter the small (and numerous) streams and riverine, yet those are the main transit arteries for arms smuggling. You will lose your cool if you see the current state of condition of the West Bengal Coastal Police force. Under the Hemnagar Police Station of North 24 Parganas (district) there are only two motor-boats, but only one pilot. It takes a minimum one year to get a motor-boat fixed once it is out of order. On top of it, there is no diesel to run the motor-boats. Every thing is barely running. Every year, Center just enquires what are things to be needed (to run the system smoothly), but that's it, nothing happens, nothing gets done.
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by Austin »

A New Book on RAW

Mission R&AW

Image

Mission R&AW Book Exposed Top Shots.
Do you Know?

1. A very senior leader of Congress Party and two other prominent politicians of India were found working as Arms Dealers by a source of R&AW in London. R&AW officer at London sent details of the two politicians to Delhi headquarters but report of Congress leaders were withheld and only name was sent. (Page 447)

2. R&AW detected one leading politician of Bihar related to a senior leader was reportedly found involved in business and smuggling activities with ISI persons in Nepal. Many other politicians of UP and Bihar were found in smuggling activities with ISI activists in Nepal by R&AW details of which were sent to Government but no action was taken (Page 454-455).

3. Nepal King offered Asylum to Indira Gandhi for his son Rajiv Gandhi, after emergency, but R&AW chief advised her to refuse this offer.

4. Morarji Desai, former Prime Minister was depicted as CIA agent by USA without any documentary proof. This is clarified in chapter 13 that another Indian politician Y.B. Chavan was the main suspect instead of Morarji Desai in this regard. Also, President Nixon called Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as bitch.

5. There are other details regarding success of R&AW in Bangladesh liberation war and merger of Sikkim with India.M

6. George Bush Sr. and Sir Maurice Old-Field, head of MI-6, the ‘James Bond’ of British fiction were personal friend of RN Kao, the founder of R&AW. (Chapter 1)

7. Britishers created an intelligence department to keep watch on Netaji Subhash Chander Bose and other freedom fighters? (See chapter 2)

8. Article 370 was enacted by Jawaharlal Nehru to appease the ego of Sheikh Abdullah who later betrayed him. IB ultimately arrested Sheikh for treason. (Details in chapter 3)

9. In 1955, young RN Kao was felicitated by the Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai with a dinner in Peking for his investigation in the sabotage of an Indian plane. (Chapter 4).

10. Kao was deputed by Indian Government to create intelligence department of Ghana, a coastal African country. He successfully did it. This constitutes a major achievement for India in the face of stiff resistance from CIA and MI-6. (Chapter 5)<>p/> 11. In 1949, Intelligence Bureau (IB) opened check-posts on Tibet borders without any support from the army. This arduous task continued till 1959 when Chinese massacred the patrolling policemen. IB gave intelligence inputs about disposition of Chinese army but the army bosses disputed the reports and faced humiliation in the 1962 debacle. (Details in chapter 6)

12. 85 reports of IB were given as proof to the Government to counter claim of army that there were no civil intelligence in 1965 war with Pakistan. (See chapter 7)

13. R&AW commandos liberated the eastern part of Bangladesh from the occupation of Pakistan army. Mukti Bahini created by R&AW forced Pakistani army to surrender before the Indian army in a brief war of 14 days. 93000 soldiers were captured who were psychologically tutored by the R&AW officers to work for democracy in Pakistan. Kao got an Indian aeroplance hijacked to Lahore to ban the Pakistani flights over the Indian territory. (Chapter 8 – Bangladesh war)*

14. Sikkim was merged with Indian territory by Kao with the help of three of his senior officers which is remarkable. ( See chapter 9)

15. Mujib was warned by Kao about a coup by his army officers to which he laughed away and ultimately got assassinated by those officers (Chapter 10)

16. R&AW never interfered in the internal affairs of India during Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi from June, 1975 to 1977. (See details in chapter 11)

17. There was s strike in R&AW in November, 1980. First time in the history of any intelligence agency. (See reasons in chapter 12)

18. Nixon called Indira Gandhi a bitch and the American writer Harsh depicted Morarji Desai as CIA agent. (Details in chapter 13).

19. Rabinder Singh, R&AW Joint Secretary working for CIA was given information and documents by more than 50 officers of R&AW. 19 of these officers were indicted by the inquiry officer. None was prosecuted in the court. (See details in chapter 17)

20. Many questionable happenings in R&AW which still require explanation and justification. (Chapter 18)

21. R&AW denigrated after Kao. (See details of every R&AW chief in chapter 19)

22. Sex related incidents of politicians and R&AW officers. (Chapter 20)

23. Enactment of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir on October 17, 1949 by Shri Jawaharlal Nehru was to appease the ego of Sheikh Abdullah who later betrayed him and was ultimately arrested by intelligence Bureau (IB) for treason. Soon after accession with India, Sheikh desired independent status for J&K which was reported by IB to Nehru. In order to sidetrack this allegation, Sheikh demanded the abdication of Maharaja Hari Singh whom he accused for the massacre of Muslims in Jammu region. Nehru conceded to this illegitimate demand of Sheikh Abdullah and in May, 1949, Yuvraj Karan Singh took over his place and was assigned the status of an agent of Maharaja. These actions of Sheikh Abdullah emboldened him who perceived that Indian Government was at his mercy and he fully exploited this situation in his nefarious designs. He was subsequently started hobnobbing with Pakistan when IB got him arrested when full evidence were found against him. (Page 34-35)

Contents

RN Kao: Founder of R&AW
Formation of IB and R&AW
Rebellion of Sheikh Abdullah
Sabotage of ‘Kashmir Princess’
Creation of Ghana Intelligence
War of China
Pakistan War –1965
Liberation of Bangladesh
Merger of Sikkim
Assassination of Sheikh Mujib
Emergency and R&AW
Revolt in R&AW
Morarji Desai–CIA agent and Indira Gandhi: American Deception
Vanished R&AW Spies
CIA Trapped Rattan Sehgal
Purulia Arms Mystery
Rabinder Singh–CIA Agent
Bizarre R&AW Incidents
Denigradation of R&AW
Sex Escapdes
Author: RK Yadav, Former R&AW Officer
ISBN: 9788170494744
Pages: 542
Features: HB, Manas
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Re: Intelligence and National Security Discussion

Post by nits »

RAW agents raced ahead of ISI to nab IM’s Pak operative Waqas in Dhaka
A small mistake on part of the ISI in preparing passport for Indian Mujahideen's (IM) Pakistani operative Zia-ur Rehman alias Waqas landed him in the net of Indian agencies. Waqas had been hiding in Bangladesh and was supposed to leave for Pakistan via Nepal when he was apprehended by India's external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

According to sources in the security establishment, though there had been some information about the possibility of Waqas being in Bangladesh, Indian agencies were clueless about his exact location. However, their sustained interest in the ISI agent who had been loaned to IM made Waqas's handlers in Pakistan's spy agency worried that their asset had been exposed and needed to be brought home.

Accordingly, ISI got a passport made for Waqas. However, when he reached the airport, Bangladesh's immigration officials discovered that there was no entry stamp on his passport. Even as they set out to detain him, the commotion attracted the attention of a RAW staffer who swiftly used his smart phone to photograph one of India's biggest tormentors and relayed it to his superiors.

RAW officers were thrilled when they saw that the six-feet man being held at Dhaka airport was their elusive quarry. What followed was an intense spy game in which Indian agents managed to spirit him away to India without leaving footprints.

How they managed to get him out of the airport and then to India remains unclear. But Waqas proved his utility by furnishing details of IM cells with whom he had collaborated and who would host him. The success was kept a closely guarded secret and Waqas was "encouraged" to do web chats with IM operatives, particularly Tehseen Akhtar "Monu", without raising suspicion.

Waqas's monitors made him seek a meeting with Tehseen. Although the IM commander was holed up in Rourkela at the time, intelligence agencies resisted the temptation to get Waqas to seek a rendezvous with him in Odisha's steel city. Instead, Waqas was made to insist that the meeting should happen, as usual, at their known hideout in Nepal.

As an unsuspecting Tehseen set out for Nepal, Indian agencies alerted their counterparts in the neighbouring country. Nepal Police, in a remarkable example of cross-border counter-terror cooperation, had the meeting point sealed as soon as Tehseen arrived. He was detained and later "pushed" into West Bengal to be "arrested" by Delhi Police.

The operation and the blow it has dealt to IM has been a source of huge respite and pride for Indian agencies. However, the celebration of the success is marred by the regret over the mishandling of Yasin Bhatkal's arrest. Unlike Waqas, agencies never got to spend "free time" with Bhatkal because of what sources allege was the "political cowardice" of Bihar authorities. That a garrulous officer of an agency blurted out the breakthrough to his colleagues in Bangalore did not help.

With the word out about Bhatkal being in Indian custody, TV channels were soon swarming all over, forcing the agencies to comply with the procedures. Now, the top-ranking jihadi terrorist, assured of the safeguards enshrined in the Constitution, has been giving a hard time to interrogators. Sources said the shrewd terrorist would turn back the interrogators by saying he was feeling fatigued, or that he needed to focus on his spiritual obligations.

That the lesson has been learnt was evident when RAW and IB did not involve others before the stage of arrest in Waqas's case.
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