Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

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kit
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by kit »

https://www.theweek.in/news/sci-tech/20 ... ernet.html

To what extent can the Star link system affect Indias security ?
sooraj
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by sooraj »

kit wrote:https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2021/ ... under.html

Swamy does think and do as what a certain US agency would do in the current scenario !!

He is quite predictable now

Biden is china's junior partner. :wink:
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Yagnasri »

It is surprising that we are not discussing the so called "farmers" agitations going on in Delhi Borders. It is a major BIF efforts to revive Khalistan terror. The reaction of the GoI is quite strange to say the least.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by nachiket »

Yagnasri wrote:It is surprising that we are not discussing the so called "farmers" agitations going on in Delhi Borders. It is a major BIF efforts to revive Khalistan terror. The reaction of the GoI is quite strange to say the least.
It is being discussed in the Politics thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7837&start=720
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by venkat_kv »

bharathp wrote:In other important news -
https://www.wionews.com/india-news/indi ... nka-357451
As part of a high-level defence engagement with Sri Lanka, India earlier this month provided the country with 341 Indra Radar spares worth 200 Sri Lankan million. The spares will be used to provide support to the four Indra MK-11 air surveillance radars gifted to India by Sri Lankan Air Force in 2011.
India has also completed the annual life extension checks of 54 shoulder-launched surface to air IGLA missiles of the Sri Lankan Air force. This coincided with the handing over of the spare parts.
The development comes even as under its SAGAR vision - Security and Growth for All in the Region, India has been reaching out to many Indian ocean countries. November of 2020 saw India-Sri Lanka-Maldives NSA level trilateral with focus on more increased cooperation amid challenges like piracy, maritime security and counter-terror.
Saar, it seems the report has it backwards. India gifted the indra radars to Sri Lanka, i would say.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Anoop »

A link to this site was posted in the Armd Discussion thread because the author did an economic analysis of T-90 vs Arjun order. I found many other highly readable snippets and two podcasts with an individual who served in Indian intelligence agencies. It's worth listening to.

https://espionage.substack.com/p/discus ... telligence

https://espionage.substack.com/p/defect ... re-sketchy

There's also a recap of what happened to Rabinder Singh after he defected to the U.S.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by morem »

Shaunak, who runs this stack has written two books ' Let Bhutto eat grass ' parts one and two. Very realistic.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Vips »

DRDO's 'Sindhu Netra' surveillance satellite deployed in space, will help to monitor Indian Ocean Region.

In a boost for the country's surveillance capabilities to monitor activities of both military warships and merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the 'Sindhu Netra' satellite developed by a team of young scientists from Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was successfully deployed in space on Sunday.

The satellite was launched using the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) PSLV-C51 which took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

The Sindhu Netra satellite has been developed by the young scientists of the DRDO and is capable of automatically identifying the warships and merchant ships operating in the IOR. The satellite has also started communicating with the ground systems, government sources told ANI.

The satellite, if required, can also help in carrying out surveillance in specific areas such as the South China Sea or the pirate-infested areas near the Gulf of Aden and the African coast, the sources said.

They added that the Sindhu Netra is one of the first in the series of satellites that would help the nation in enhancing its surveillance capabilities on land in areas such as the Ladakh region with China and the border areas with Pakistan.

Seeking to keep a closer eye on the activities of the Chinese military both near the Indian territory as well as in its depth areas all along the 4,000 kilometre Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Indian security agencies feel there is a requirement of four to six dedicated satellites which can help them keep a check on the adversary's moves.

Along with the setting up of the Defence Space Agency, the government also created a defence space research organisation to look after the ability to protect space assets from being attacked by adversaries there. The space arm of the defence forces would also be bolstered significantly in near future.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Vips »

India launches real-time vessel tracking and seafarers’ help system.
India launched a real-time vessel tracking system that can help seafarers and fishermen in the times of need. Apart from tracking Indian vessels globally, it can also track foreign vessels within 1,000-km of India’s coastline.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Manish_P »

Hoping it is nothing serious.. but it's is suspicious, and coming after another recent case.

Russian Sukhoi Engineer found dead in his hotel room
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Manish_P »

7 Kgs of Uranium :shock:

Mumbai scrap dealer, aide held for bid to sell 7 kg uranium
The state ATS has arrested two men, including a Mankhurd scrap dealer, for illegally possessing and trying to sell 7.1kg radioactive uranium worth around Rs 21.3 crore. It is used in cancer treatment and in aeronautics, an official said.

The case began in mid-February when the ATS received a tip-off that a Thane resident, Jigar Jayesh Pandya (27), was trying to sell pieces of a uranium substance. The ATS sent a dummy customer who bought some for over Rs 1 lakh and then sent it to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Trombay for analysis.

Meanwhile, Pandya was detained and questioned. He said he got it from Abu Tahir Choudhary (31), who the ATS apprehended from the scrap market and seized from him 7.1kg uranium. “Choudhary said he wanted to sell it for Rs 5 crore,” said an ATS officer.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Sonugn »

Manish_P wrote:7 Kgs of Uranium :shock:

Mumbai scrap dealer, aide held for bid to sell 7 kg uranium
The state ATS has arrested two men, including a Mankhurd scrap dealer, for illegally possessing and trying to sell 7.1kg radioactive uranium worth around Rs 21.3 crore. It is used in cancer treatment and in aeronautics, an official said.

The case began in mid-February when the ATS received a tip-off that a Thane resident, Jigar Jayesh Pandya (27), was trying to sell pieces of a uranium substance. The ATS sent a dummy customer who bought some for over Rs 1 lakh and then sent it to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Trombay for analysis.

Meanwhile, Pandya was detained and questioned. He said he got it from Abu Tahir Choudhary (31), who the ATS apprehended from the scrap market and seized from him 7.1kg uranium. “Choudhary said he wanted to sell it for Rs 5 crore,” said an ATS officer.
Could be ore?
Inder Sharma
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Inder Sharma »

Sonugn wrote:
Could be ore?
The place is near BARC. BARC itself is surrounded by peaceful slum- Cheeta camp. This slum serves the BARC personnel and their families for all the household, supplies and related services. Inevitable that some will develop relationships vis-à-vis the BARC staff and security. A more relevant question to ask is, if not for intel, who was the prospective client they were seeking out for.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by kit »

kit wrote:https://www.theweek.in/news/sci-tech/20 ... ernet.html

To what extent can the Star link system affect Indias security ?
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatime ... y/82545979
New business models and technological evolutions such as the satellite-based communications or SatCom may pose national security challenges, and there is a need for a regular scrutiny and taking suitable actions, a senior government official said.

"Space-based Internet is increasingly becoming a reality. New models of business and technology evolution may pose new security challenges and there will be a continuous need to examine these challenges and take appropriate actions," Ajay Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Defence told ETTelecom.
Paul
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Paul »

Could not find the ISI Thread.

Ramana....has some info on Cawthorne's background.

https://www.thefridaytimes.com/early-years-of-the-isi/
Early Years of the ISI
Major General Syed Ali Hamid by Major General Syed Ali Hamid May 7, 2021 in Features, History 0



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Within the multitude of problems faced by Pakistan’s civil and military leadership at Independence, one of the most pressing was the near absence of accurate and actionable intelligence about the movement of the Indian military and its intentions. The first contingent of Indian troops had landed in Srinagar on 27 October 1947 and by early summer of 1948, Indian forces were launching full-scale attacks on key features and population centers that had been taken by the Azad Kashmir fighters.

Amongst the 384 British officers who were seconded to the Pakistan Army, we were fortunate to have one who had probably the most experience in Intelligence Planning and Operations in the entire British India Army during the Second World War. Maj Gen Walter Cawthorn (Bill to his friends), had initially enrolled in the Australian Army and was subsequently awarded a commission. During the First World War, he fought at Gallipoli and France and with 4/16th Punjab in Palestine after being commissioned into the British India Army. During the interwar years, he saw active service in the north-western Frontier and Balochistan and three years on staff in the War Office in London. At the start of the Second World War, Brigadier Cawthorn first took charge of the Middle East Intelligence Centre, and in 1941 he was posted as Director of Military Intelligence at the General Headquarters in Delhi. Here he worked with Peter Fleming, the elder brother of Ian Fleming who created the spy, James Bond. From 1942 to the end of the war, Peter Fleming was based in New Delhi as head of D Division, in charge of military deception and the ultra-secret double agent network in Burma and Southeast Asia.



Promoted major general, Cawthorn opted to transfer to the Pakistan Army and was Deputy Chief of Staff from 1948 to 1951, under the Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Ross McCay. In this capacity he was also the Secretary of the Joint Services Commanders Committee (JSCC), a forerunner of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) that was established by Prime Minister Bhutto many years later. Around the time that the Indians geared up to launch their summer offensive of 1948 in Kashmir, a decision was taken most probably on the recommendation of McCay and his deputy to establish a Directorate of Forces Intelligence, the forerunner of an Inter-Services Intelligence organization (ISI).




It would have certainly been approved by the Defence Council, which was headed by Liaquat Ali Khan. Col Syed Shahid Hamid was informed by Iskander Mirza, the Defence Secretary and an old friend from his days in Delhi, that he would be the first Director of Forces Intelligence, as he was good with raising organisations. This was in context to his previous assignment which was raising 56 battalions of the Pakistan National Guard (PNG) on the wishes of the Quaid under an Ordinance promulgated by him only three months after Independence. Unfortunately, Shahid Hamid was replaced by Col Musa as its director – it was a poor choice. The Quaid had passed away and Liaquat Ali asked Musa to carry out an assessment of the viability of the PNG – and on his recommendations within two months the entire organization was disbanded!

One of the early stars of the organization was Major Muhammad Zaheeruddin who was posted from Kuldana where he was commanding the Army School of Military Intelligence

Shahid Hamid was to work under Bill Cawthorn whom he came to know well while serving as Private Secretary to General Auchinleck in Delhi. Bill and his wife Mary were very close to the Chief. After being informed of his new assignment, Shahid Hamid met Cawthorn and admitted to him that he had neither worked in an intelligence organization nor had any experience of raising one. Cawthorn was most sympathetic and helped Shahid in drawing up an organization and staffing it – some had served under Cawthorn during the World War.


Posting order for Brig Shahid Hamid as Director of Forces INtelligence and of Brig Musa who replaced him as Director of PNG. The Army was still using pre-Independence army numbers. ‘AI’ (Army India) was for officers commissioned from Sandhurst and ‘IC’ for officers commissioned at the Indian Military Academy
The directorate was housed in Karachi with military staff from all three services and the civilian staff (including women) recruited through the Public Services Commission. Some of the civilian staff had earlier worked in Intelligence offices in Delhi. By 1950 it had 22 military and 17 civilian members. The Kashmir conflict was at its height and the infant directorate had to hit the ground running. A number of appreciations were produced which according to Shahid Hamid, were ably handled by his GSO-1, Maj Sahabzada Yaqub Khan. Now Sahabzada Yaqub had only nine years of commissioned service (three-and-a-half years of which he had spent in a POW camp), but his intellectual capabilities were already well developed and productive.

One of the early stars of the organization was Major Muhammad Zaheeruddin who was posted from Kuldana where he was commanding the Army School of Military Intelligence. Zaheer had worked under Cawthorn and Peter Fleming for three years in Burma behind Japanese lines where he had infiltrated the Japan-backed Indian National Army INA. Finally he was captured and sentenced to be shot, but was one of the first to be rescued from the jail in Rangoon when it fell to the Allied Forces and flown back to India. Shahid Hamid admits that he was initially not impressed by Zaheer, who was an introvert, very sensitive and morose. But when they started working together, Shahid found that the officer had an analytical mind and his appreciations were faultless.

Smoking one cigarette after another, the PM listened patiently and at the end had just one question: “Are you sure of your facts?”
“Sir!” replied Shahid Hamid, “I would not have come to you if I was not convinced of the Indian intentions!”

The C-in-Cs of the three services often visited the ISI in Karachi to spell out their requirements and a request by the army for an important appreciation was assigned to Zaheer. The officer was asked to take notes while the Director did some initial loud thinking but after a while Zaheer looked half asleep with no notes. He requested the Director to continue as he was taking mental notes and when Shahid Hamid finished, he instructed the officer to submit an outline of the appreciation in two days. By the following morning Zaheer placed on the Director’s table 15 typed pages of a flawless appreciation. Unfortunately Zaheer’s subsequent career came to a tragic end because he was posted as the Director of Military Intelligence at GHQ and fell into disgrace as he was unaware of the involvement of some officers in what came to be known and as the 1951 Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case. Zaheer committed suicide because he could not take the shame of being removed from his post and being demoted.


Following the birth of Pakistan, Karachi was a busy capital and the ISI was involved with numerous foreign visitors including journalists, an Indian military delegation for talks on Kashmir, a Soviet trade delegation and the Shah of Iran, to name a few. The Shah was the first foreign head of state to visit Pakistan and everyone wanted the visit to be a success. During his tour of Pakistan, the Shah visited many military installations and for the information of the forces the Directorate prepared a brochure on Iran. In between, the Director was invited by the British Government to study the organization and working of their Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6. Back in Pakistan, Shahid Hamid made numerous tours of the border with India from the Rann of Kutch till Kashmir to establish cross-border contacts.

Shahid had only been with the ISI for a year when he was informed by Lt Gen McCay that he had been selected to replace Brig Haya-ud-Din as the Defence Attaché in London. It was a prime posting but Shahid’s desire was to put the nascent organization on a firm footing before being posted out. The working of the directorate had been handicapped by the continuous changing of officers and the absence of two full colonels that were to be posted from the British Army. He, therefore, asked for the posting to be delayed by a minimum of six months.



In December 1948, Pakistan and India arrived at an agreement for a ceasefire in Kashmir but the tension between the two nations did not abate. In early 1950, violent communal riots broke out in Calcutta and spilled over into East Pakistan. There was a large scale exodus of Hindus and the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS demanded a forcible seizure of East Pakistan and the repudiation of Partition. The Indians were already buoyed with their success in the forcible seizure of the Hyderabad State and Nehru threatened Pakistan. The Indian Army started deploying on the borders of both the wings of Pakistan.



For many weeks, the ISI laboured hard to fathom India’s military intentions and of particular concern was the movement of their armored division located at Meerut. However the organization had quickly developed an effective network and the not only knew the very day it entrained from its peacetime location but also its destination. Confident now of the knowledge of the entire Indian military design, and on the advice of Iskander Mirza, the Defence Secretary, the Director directly briefed Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. Smoking one cigarette after another, the PM listened patiently and at the end had just one question: “Are you sure of your facts?”



“Sir!” replied Shahid Hamid, “I would not have come to you if I was not convinced of the Indian intentions.”

That same evening the PM addressed a public rally in which he made his famous gesture of showing his fist to India. The following day addressing the nation on Radio Pakistan, he exposed the entire Indian military plan. His clenched fist (“mukka”) galvanized the nation and became a symbol of its defiance. Nehru was compelled to back down, claiming that India never had any war-like intentions and he also offered to sign a ‘No War’ pact with Pakistan. In those early years of Pakistan, it was probably the ISI’s finest hour.



Having spent two years in placing the organization on a firm footing, in the middle of 1950, Shahid was rewarded with the command of the famous Peshawar Brigade. He was replaced by a friend and senior, PA-13 Brig Mirza Hamid Hussain. In 1951, Maj Gen Cawthorn migrated to Australia where he was appointed as the Director of the Joint Intelligence Bureau. In 1954, he came back to Pakistan as Australia’s High Commissioner and both he and his wife Mary remained good friends of the Shahid Hamids.



Author’s Note: This article is based on the information contained in the book Early Years of Pakistan by Maj Gen Syed Shahid Hamid as well as the general’s private papers. I have also extracted information from an article titled “Early Days of Intelligence in Pakistan” by Hamid Hussain.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Kati »

ramana
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by ramana »

Kati good report.
Please post excerpts so can analyze it.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by srin »

The Tragic Story of Black Tiger, "India's Greatest Spy"

https://madrascourier.com/insight/the-t ... atest-spy/

(unfortunately, site is not allowing copying snippets)
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Ashokk »

srin wrote:The Tragic Story of Black Tiger, "India's Greatest Spy"

https://madrascourier.com/insight/the-t ... atest-spy/

(unfortunately, site is not allowing copying snippets)
Do you think spying is a sexy profession? Think again. Black Tiger's story should serve as a warning for anyone who aspires to be a spy.

After the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 and 1971, tensions between the two nations made it evident that India needed to bolster its intelligence capabilities. The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) – India’s external intelligence agency, which was growing rapidly – was on a mission to recruit spies to keep a close eye on the enemy lines.

The R&AW, which was initially created to keep a check on China’s influence over Asia, had exclusively shifted its focus to counter Pakistan. Spies – trained in the dark art of espionage which, in essence, is deception, subterfuge and sabotage – played a major role in passing intelligence from behind the enemy lines. Their intelligence inputs gave India a strategic advantage – especially during times of conflict.

Post Indo-Pakistan wars, a 21-year-old, college-going, Ravindra Kaushik, performed a zealous mono-act of an Army officer at the national theatrical festival in Lucknow. When a R&AW intelligence officer took note of his performance, he decided to recruit him as an agent.

Kaushik was born on April 11, 1952, in Sri Ganganagar of Rajasthan. He pursued a degree in commerce at SD Bihani college at his hometown while taking a great interest in theatre. Given his hometown’s proximity to Pakistan’s borders, the memories of partition are quite strong within the community. Kaushik was also very patriotic, perhaps an ethos he inherited from his father who served in the air force. Kaushik agreed to the R&AW’s proposal as soon as he graduated from college.

For two years, Kaushik underwent rigorous training in Delhi, learning the finer details of undercover operations and covert deception, to carry out his mission in Pakistan. He mastered Urdu, studied Islamic texts like Quran, grasped the topography of Pakistan, and even underwent circumcision to play true to the Muslim character he was about to play.

As his hometown was close to Punjab, Kaushik was fluent in Punjabi, a language widely spoken in Pakistan. His theatrical skills were useful in moulding the character of Nabi-Ahmed Shakir, his under-cover identity, as he departed for his first mission at the age of 23.

When Kaushik left India, all records of his existence were destroyed.

Nabi-Ahmed Shakir was now a resident of Islamabad. During his time in Pakistan, he pursued and completed his bachelors in law (LLB) from Karachi University. After graduating, Shakir secured a position in the Pakistan Army and eventually got promoted to the role of a Major. His official position in the Pakistani army gave him access to sensitive information.

But through the years, Kaushik passed on sensitive information to his handlers at R&AW that allowed India’s defence forces to keep Pakistani forces under its feet. Kaushik’s services were greatly applauded and the then Home Minister SB Chavan, under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, gave him the title, Black Tiger.

Though Kaushik played the role of Shakir exceedingly well, he also led a private life. He met and fell in love with Amanat, the daughter of an army tailor, with whom he married and fathered a son. But Kaushik led a life of complete secrecy, hoping not to burden his family. Consequently, Amanat was unaware of Shakir’s mission and his double life.

But all spies run out of luck someday. In 1983, the R&AW sent Inayat Masiha, a low-level operative, to contact Kaushik. Masiha, who got caught at the border, blew Kaushik’s cover when he was interrogated by the Pakistani army. The Pakistanis immediately captured Kaushik, under the charges of espionage, and sentenced him to death in 1985; however it was reduced to a life sentence in 1990.

Thereafter, Kaushik led a life of suffering. He was tortured for two years at Sialkot and was transferred to various prisons before landing in Mianwali where he suffered from poor health; he was afflicted with tuberculosis and asthma for 16 years. He wrote many letters to his family in India. But only 16 letters made it home. In one letter, he asks:

Kya Bharat jaise bade desh ke liye kurbaani dene waalon ko yehi milta hai?” (Meaning, “Is this the reward a person gets for sacrificing his life for India?”)

In another letter to his family, Kaushik bitterly wrote:

Had I been an American, I would have been out of jail in three days.

Sadly, Kaushik died of pulmonary tuberculosis and heart disease in 2001. Until the day he died, Kaushik hoped for India to save him. But India did not even claim his body after his death; it was buried behind the Central Jail of Mianwali.

Kaushik spent 26 years away from his family in India and 18 from his family in Islamabad – until the day he died. His families continued to suffer the consequences of his decision to be a spy long after his death.

When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India, Kaushik’s mother, Amladevi, and his brother, Rajeshwarnath Kaushik wrote several letters pleading the government to recognise the sacrifices he made for his country. In one such letter, Amladevi imagined his future if the circumstances had been otherwise. She wrote:

[h]ad he not been exposed, Kaushik would have been a senior army officer in the Pakistan government by now and the coming years.

Amladevi never received any response to her letters. According to Rajeshwarnath Kaushik, the government only recognised his services by sending a pension for the family after his death. They received a sum of Rs. 500 per month, and later Rs. 2000 per month until Amladevi passed away in 2006.

Spies have often been considered indispensable for national security. Indeed, many spies made enormous sacrifices for the country. But when they seek some form of recognition from the government for their services, in the majority of cases, the Indian government turned a blind eye.

Kaushik’s family made a big sacrifice for the country; they lost their son twice. First, when he gave up his identity to serve his country. Second, when he was captured. The government of India could have saved him. But it chose not to do so.

In Pakistan, Kaushik’s wife, Amaanat, is alive; his son passed away in 2012.

Spying is, in reality, a thankless job. The plethora of television series and films that glorify, romanticise and portray spying as a sexy profession serve as inadvertent propaganda plugs that help to recruit people into the murky world of espionage.

If anything, Ravindra Kaushik’s story, buried in the annals of history, should serve as a warning for anyone who aspires to be a spy.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by srin »

I just read the "Spy Stories: Inside secret world of RAW and ISI" and quite disappointed.

Here is the summary:
* Accepts that various Kashmir terrorist groups were backed by ISI and also details some operations. But then conveys that ISI lost control of them and the groups operated on their own (like the 26/11)
* Talks quite a bit about the so-called "Hindu terror" groups and talks appreciatively about Karkare etc.
* On the parliament attack, claims it was not an ISI operation, probed by Delhi police with "reputation to staging fake encounters". Links this to Davinder singh (the Davinder Singh who was arrested in Jan 2020 while having a militant in his car).

Quite a bit that escape my attention right now. There is a "Cut the Clutter" interview with Coupta that essentially summarizes the whole thing. Don't bother spending money on it.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by AdityaM »

The 2021 Pakistani invasion of Afghanistan under the garb of Taliban took everyone by surprise. USA, China may have planned it with them, but it was still unexpected. this involved massive movement of men and material, and coordination at army or governmental level.

As the country with the most vested interest in surveillance of Pakistan, how did Indian intelligence miss this completely? this implies our reach in Pakistan is severely limited when it comes to keeping tabs on the decision makers there.

This may have been a surprise for the world, but surely it cannot be dismissed as such when it comes to our Intelligence agencies and their mandate.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/TheWolfpackIN/statu ... 14112?s=20 ---> In the past one week, heads of US CIA, British MI6 (SIS) as well as Russia's NSA have visited India.

https://twitter.com/TheWolfpackIN/statu ... 00899?s=20 ---> Russian NSA Nikolai Patrushev to meet Indian PM Modi. Afghanistan to be one of the focus areas of the meet.

https://twitter.com/DesiEscobar07/statu ... 89026?s=20 ---> NSA Ajit Doval and Russia's NSA Nikolai Patrushev to meet tomorrow in Delhi.

https://twitter.com/TheWolfpackIN/statu ... 10183?s=20 ---> US planning to create an high level intelligence sharing mechanism for Indo-Pacific, similar to five-eyes.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Vayutuvan »

Japan, SoKo, and Aussies not meeting NSA Ajit Doval? Who are all going to be in the five eyes, I wonder.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Manish_P »

A railways postal employee caught... ironic that his name is 'Bharat'

Postal service official sold secrets to Pak spy, was honey-trapped: Officials
According to intelligence agencies, the official received a message from a Pakistani woman on Facebook at least four months ago. The accused talked to the woman, who reportedly told him over WhatsApp voice and video call that she is from Port Blair and pursuing MBBS.

A 27-year-old Railway postal service official was arrested on Friday for allegedly supplying secret documents of the Indian Army to a Pakistan woman agent.

The official, identified as Bharat Bhawri, was arrested by Military Intelligence of Southern Command of Indian Army and Rajasthan State Intelligence Department.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Vips »

WTF Secret documents of the armed forces being ferried/delivered by Postman? Really?

Can happen only in India. Mera Bharat Mahaan.
Last edited by Vips on 13 Sep 2021 18:38, edited 1 time in total.
Vips
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Vips »

What is NATGRID, India’s counter-terrorism platform?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to launch the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) soon. NATGRID is aimed at providing cutting-edge technology to boost India's counter-terror capabilities. A final synchronisation and testing of the electronic database is reportedly underway.

The development was recently confirmed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who said that the launch was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Had corona (COVID-19) not been there, the Prime Minister would have dedicated NATGRID to the country. I am hopeful that the Prime Minister will dedicate NATGRID to the country in some time," Shah had said during the 51st Foundation Day event of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) on September 4.

Here's all you need to know about the integrated counter-terrorism platform NATGRID

What is NATGRID?

NATGRID is conceptualised as a seamless and secure database for information on terrorists, economic crimes and similar incidents to help bolster India's capabilities.

The NATGRID has been envisaged as a robust mechanism to track suspects and prevent terrorist attacks with real-time data and access to classified information like immigration, banking, individual taxpayers, air and train travels.

The 26/11 terrorist siege in Mumbai back in 2008 exposed the deficiency that security agencies had no mechanism to look for vital information on a real-time basis.

How will NATGRID work?

In the first phase, 10 user agencies and 21 service providers will be connected with the NATGRID while in later phases about 950 additional organisations will be brought on board, as per a PTI report. In the following years, more than 1,000 organisations will be further integrated into the NATGRID.

These data sources include records related to immigration entry and exit, banking and financial transactions and telecommunications.

As per a recent order, the Income Tax Department will share PAN and bank account details of any entity with 10 investigative and intelligence agencies under NATGRID.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes, which frames policy for the I-T Department, said in a July 21 order that information like permanent account number (PAN), Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number (TAN), bank account details, a summary of IT Returns and tax deducted at source (TDS) and "any other information as mutually agreed" will be shared with the 10 agencies.

The "furnishing and receiving of information to and from" these central agencies will be done through the National Intelligence Grid. The CBDT and the NATGRID will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to finalise the latest information-sharing mechanism, it said.

Who will have access to the NATGRID database?

NATGRID database will be available to prominent federal agencies including, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Central Board of Direct Taxes (for Income Tax Department) (CBDT), Cabinet Secretariat, Intelligence Bureau (IB), Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Financial Intelligence Unit and the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

26/11 prompted India to launch the NATGRID database

The necessity for the NATGRID came after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks exposed the deficiency that security agencies had no mechanism to look for vital information on a real-time basis.

Lack of quick information to intelligence and enforcement agencies was considered to be one of the major hurdles in detecting US terror suspect David Headley's movement across the country during his multiple visits between 2006 and 2009.

Headley had provided key information and videos of terror targets to Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba that carried out the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, including foreigners.

The Cabinet Committee on Security had given approval to the Rs 3,400-crore NATGRID project on April 8, 2010, but its work slowed down after 2012 (Bloody Italian Congress) Later, Modi, who came to power for the first time in 2014, issued directions for its revival.
AdityaM
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by AdityaM »

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrew ... -on-china/

This article appears more to be a hit job on India.
That feed is what India bought and likely weaponized, says 37-year-old Exodus CEO and cofounder Logan Brown. He tells Forbes that, after an investigation, he believes India handpicked one of the Windows vulnerabilities from the feed—allowing deep access to Microsoft’s operating system—and Indian government personnel or a contractor adapted it for malicious means. India was subsequently cut off from buying new zero-day research from his company in April, says Brown, and it has worked with Microsoft to patch the vulnerabilities. The Indian use of his company’s research was beyond the pale, though Exodus doesn’t limit what customers do with its findings, Brown says, adding, “You can use it offensively if you want, but not if you’re going to be . . . shotgun blasting Pakistan and China. I don't want any part of that.”
arshyam
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by arshyam »

Right, so it's perfectly okay for these guys to find vulnerabilities to exploit in other companies' software, but if someone else does that based on purchasing some the info these guys publish, they are the bad guys. Someone must show this guy the dictionary meaning of irony and hypocrisy.

Maybe this idiot wouldn't have complained had the target been Russia - after all, aren't they the only bad guys left in the days of the good taliban?
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/TheWolfpackIN/statu ... 45056?s=20 ---> Just like Indian military is reorganizing itself on the lines of US Theater Commands, India's foreign intel service, R&AW may also reorganize itself on the lines of the CIA by replacing its old divisions and directorates with "Integrated Mission Centers".
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by shyamd »

Major intel war taking place in Europe with ISI. ISI now working closer than ever with PRC intel in these regions. Host nations keeping eye on matters. Battle occurring from London to Brussels to central europe incl. Germany. Previously these activities were sort of tolerated because some countries were deployed in ISAF in Afg. Now situation changing.

Obvious issues are Baloch, SIndh groups, Pashtun groups. ISI trying to assassinate members or put on surveillance.
Vips
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Vips »

Will India be joining the world’s most exclusive intelligence club?

From high in the stratosphere, some 20,000 metres above the Caribbean Sea, the unblinking eye of a technological god gazed out over the rice fields of Los Palacios, west of Havana. The images from the U2 spycraft’s Hycon 73B camera, taken on October 14, 1962, recorded a Soviet military convoy passing down a road. Then, analysts hunched over a light table in the Stuart Building in downtown Washington noticed something else: six SS4 medium-range ballistic missiles, capable of delivering nuclear warheads deep inside the United States.

“We are sitting on the biggest story of our time”, National Photo Interpretation Centre chief Arthur Lundahl told his staff. Within hours, the image took the world to the edge of a nuclear war—and then helped it back again.

Efforts are now gathering to place India inside the so-called ‘Five Eyes’ club led by the United States, the most sophisticated intelligence-gathering alliance in human history. In language drafted by Senator Ruben Gallego, chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on special operations and intelligence, the United States’ defence authorisation bill for 2022 has called on the Director of National Intelligence to report on the benefits and risks of expanding “the circle of trust to other like-minded democracies”.

This means Five Eyes could include Japan, South Korea and India, as well as European partners critical to fighting what some believe is a looming Cold War against China. Ever since at least 2015, the United States and India have discussed tightening their intelligence relationship, even some kind of associate membership of the Five Eyes. The bill’s language suggests the idea is gathering traction.

In principle, Five Eyes membership will give India the support it desperately needs to push back against the People’s Liberation Army’s massive military power: New Delhi’s ability to harvest and decrypt Chinese strategic communication, as well as its pool of language and regional expertise, has long been anaemic. Like all deals, though, this one involves hidden terms and conditions—some of them less than attractive.

Five Eyes had its genesis in intelligence-sharing between the United States and United Kingdom in the Second World War, which expanded into a formal alliance by 1955, involving the English-speaking democracies. Listening stations run by five countries across the world, supplemented from the 1970s by satellites, allowed their intelligence services to suck up virtually all electronic communication from around the planet. For example, part of the inter-city microwave signals carrying phone traffic went into space, because of the curvature of the earth.

The scale of Five Eyes' operations began to become public from the 1990s, based on disclosures made by New Zealand's Nicky Hager, American James Bamford, and British journalist Duncan Campbell. Fears mounted that member-states might use the alliance to conduct espionage against their own citizens, as well as to further their commercial interests.

In 2000 and 2001, the European Parliament released reports suggesting the fears were well founded. The furore forced former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director James Woolsey to admit that the United States did conduct espionage in Europe, both targeting entities violating international sanctions and paying bribes to gain contracts. He claimed commercial and economic intelligence of this kind was not passed on to companies in the United States.

Fred Stock, a former Canadian intelligence officer, earlier gave testimony that suggested Woolsey was, at best, telling part of the truth. Stock said he had been expelled from his service in 1993 for criticising its targeting of economic and civilian targets—among them, information on negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Chinese grain purchases, and French weapons sales.

Evidence also emerged that the National Security Agency (NSA) spied on United States targets—though not on its own soil, thus bypassing national legislation. Margaret Newsham, who worked at Five Eyes’ Menwith Hill facility in the United Kingdom from 1977 to 1981, testified that conversations involving the late Senator Strom Thurmond had been intercepted. The technology to target conversations involving particular people, she said, had existed from 1978.

Newsham’s revelations seemed to buttress what many had long suspected—which is that the Five Eyes agreement allowed the United States and the United Kingdom to spy on their own citizens, by the simple expedient of subcontracting the task to their alliance partner.

The massive scale of Five Eyes' operations across the world and their ability to penetrate even well-defended computer networks were underlined by former United States NSA officer Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations. The Snowden leak demonstrated that large-scale electronic surveillance compromised the privacy rights of even the citizens of Five Eyes partners.

Leaving aside privacy issues, though, do the national-security benefits of Five Eyes membership outweigh its risks? The answer isn’t as obvious as it seems. For one, surveillance technology can potentially be used by vendors against suppliers. For decades, countries across the world—including India, Pakistan and Iran—purchased encrypted communications equipment from Swiss firm CryptoAG. In 2015, though, declassified NSA documents showed the firm, which was secretly owned by the CIA and Germany’s BND, designed encryption algorithms which allowed their intelligence services to listen-in to the traffic.

The CIA was thus able to monitor Iran’s Ayatollahs during the 1979 revolution, crisis, pass on Argentinian military communications to the United Kingdom during the Falklands War, and discover evidence that Libyan officials had been responsible for a terrorist bombing in Berlin.

Likely, the United States was also able to listen-in to significant parts of Indian and Pakistani communications-intelligence traffic—though the available archive of declassified documentation does not suggest either country’s nuclear and military programmes were affected. The United States had begun to supply the Research and Analysis Wing's Aviation Research Centre equipment to spy on China's nuclear programme and naval assets from 1962; no one knows for certain what might have been compromised.

Five Eyes’ partner states understand these dilemmas; countries like Australia, Canada and New Zealand have concluded that their strategic interests are best served even at the risk of their own secrecy being compromised. New Delhi and/or Tokyo might come to the same conclusion—but the decision will have to be weighed carefully.

The second problem with Five Eyes membership has to do with what scholar Kristie Macrakis has described as the intelligence community’s “technophilic hubris”. Even though the United States spent an estimated 70% of its gargantuan intelligence budget on technological means, Macrakis has demonstrated that the Soviet Union achieved more using old-fashioned human espionage. Soviet intelligence services were able to recruit spies in the heart of the United States’ nuclear weapons programme, as well as its communications intelligence technologies and operations.

In one famous case, the CIA burrowed a tunnel under Berlin, to listen to Soviet phone communications. From the time plans began in 1953, the tunnel had already been betrayed to the Soviets through the British double-agent, George Blake. The Soviets fed misleading communications through the network, deceiving their opponents.

Even the famous U2 images that led to exposure of the Soviet Union’s nuclear missiles in Cuba were only generated because of intelligence provided by Oleg Penkovsky, a military intelligence officer in Moscow who passed on information on the intermediate-range ballistic missiles to the United States. Lacking that information, photo-interpretation experts would likely not have recognised the facilities near Moscow.

The lesson isn’t that intelligence technology isn’t useful—just that it has limitations. Even as India thinks through the prospects and perils of joining Five Eyes, it needs to be working harder on addressing the chronic deficits that plague its own intelligence community. These include shortfalls in the number of personnel recruited to its intelligence services, lack of language and regional expertise, poor technology staffing, and outdated curricula and training practices.

For 2019-20, for example, the government committed funding of Rs 2,575 crore for the Intelligence Bureau, less than a third of the Rs 7,497 allocated for the Delhi Police alone. A tiny fraction of that sum—Rs 83.5 crore—will be available for capital investments. The Intelligence Bureau’s means are in stark contrast to those of major intelligence agencies in the West; the Federal Bureau of Investigations, with a far narrower role, has sought $9.6 billion in funding for the 2020 financial year.

In 2013, Parliament was informed that some 8,000 positions in the Intelligence Bureau were unfilled, out of a sanctioned staff strength of 26,867. Things have not significantly changed. Although precise numbers are hard to estimate, of some 30-odd Joint Director-level officials—the critical level of senior executive authority—only nine operate in national-security domains like counter-terrorism.

Experts have long understood these problems. As the highly regarded bureaucrat N.N. Vohra has noted, there is also “no mechanism to assess the productivity of our two apex intelligence agencies”. In one article, now-National Security Adviser Ajit Doval called for debate to shape “new doctrines, suggest structural changes, aim at optimisation of resources and examine administrative and legislative changes required for the empowerment of intelligence agencies”.

Little of that, sadly, has been done—leaving India’s intelligence community grappling with problems no club membership will fix.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by shyamd »

The premier relationship for global operations is RAW and CIA, who have grown very close.

Five Eyes is a different level of closeness though and I can't see that happening soon personally. There is (very) close cooperation on PRC and counter terrorism but there are multilateral fora for that where info is exchanged.

France is probably the closest to joining that club.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by chetak »

The hans are back to playing games again

multilaterally meaning pakis

China said unable to attend due to scheduling issue. Open for dialogue with India on Afghanistan multilaterally and bilaterally: Sources on NSA level dialogue on Afghanistan
via@ANI · 8h 6:37 pm · 8 Nov 2021
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by ldev »

shyamd wrote:The premier relationship for global operations is RAW and CIA, who have grown very close.

Five Eyes is a different level of closeness though and I can't see that happening soon personally. There is (very) close cooperation on PRC and counter terrorism but there are multilateral fora for that where info is exchanged.

France is probably the closest to joining that club.
A draft bill before a committee of the US Senate proposes adding Germany, Japan, India and South Korea to the existing 5 eyes.

https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021 ... ct/186550/

And Pakistan has predictably blown a fuse at the prospect that India could join that grouping

https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021 ... ys/186715/

Even some of the Europeans are pissed :)

François Heisbourg
@FHeisbourg
Ever since AUKUS, one sometimes gets the impression that the world seen from DC only includes Indo-Pac, with Biden trying learning ex post facto what's been decided by his Asian crew...
shyamd
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by shyamd »

One would have to skin the cat at multiple angles - In some areas its only formalizing what has already been taking place for over a decade I suppose (which TSPA and PLA are only too aware of). The devil will be in the detail...
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Manish_P »

Don't know which will be the most appropriate thread for this news (Mods pls. help)

The first question to my mind is what are the alternate uses of the tyre of a Fighter jet?

Second is maybe SOP for transport of Military eqiupment can be via closed container vehicle only

Mirage-2000 fighter jet's tyre stolen from truck in Lucknow
In a 'heist' straight from a Bollywood thriller, unidentified miscreants stole a spare brand new tyre of Mirage-2000 fighter jet from a moving truck in the city.

The tyre was being ferried on a truck from Bakshi Ka Talab airbase in the state capital to Jodhpur when the incident took place while the truck was caught in a traffic jam on Shaheed Path.

"On November 27, during road transit of IAF logistics consignment, theft of an aircraft tyre was reported in Lucknow by the truck driver, who lodged an FIR. The IAF is providing all necessary assistance to the police in the investigation," read a statement of the Indian Air Force.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Pratyush »

This seems to be crime of opportunity. The thrives saw what looked like tires on the back of the truck.

Decided to take advantage of it.
Manish_P
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by Manish_P »

Straight from the man himself

ISRO scientist Tapan Mishra tells his story about poisoning.. among other things (which are very fascinating to say the least)

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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by fanne »

the whole interview is good with many gems. Highly recommended. A question to whoever may know the answer - Why are we not increasing the number of SAT, once we have the underlying tech. Like the radarsat, the repeat time is in months, 10 of them will give a repeat time of 10 days. It is rumored, china has enough sats to have repeat time of 15 minutes.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion - July 2018

Post by kit »



Remember the North Korean ship destined for the pakis with missile parts and autoclaves ? ..that was seized by the ICG..

Watch this .. The "Office 39"..

Need a good analysis as to how the North Koreans make money as well as similar sources being used by the Pakis to route weapons and narcotics to India and Europe
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