Intelligence & National Security Discussion

[SandeepS]

Rahul, your Tailor of Panama comment has hit the bulls-eye. Turns out that the fake Taliban was a shopkeeper from Quetta as per this news article...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03577.html

But on a serious note, this will be a second major coup by the intel wing of Taliban/AQ/ISI after the suicide bomb attack on CIA operatives in Khost last Dec. It does shows the desperation amongst NATO/ISAF forces and Taliban/AQ/ISI are very effectively exploiting it. I wonder what kind of insights into Afghan/Coalition forces that ISI must have gained from this operation.

[svinayak]

http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/PUBLIC ... tml?Mode=1

The imposter in the Taliban-Afghan talks showed how easy it is to fool even tech-savvy Nato

It could be straight out of a spy novel or from a particularly loopy Monty Python movie. The secret talks between the Taliban and Afghan leaders under the watchful eye of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) seem have run into identity problems.

This is a Paki plant and they used their man to fake the negotiation.
Nobody else can find out who is what

[rsingh]

http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/PUBLIC ... tml?Mode=1

The imposter in the Taliban-Afghan talks showed how easy it is to fool even tech-savvy Nato

It could be straight out of a spy novel or from a particularly loopy Monty Python movie. The secret talks between the Taliban and Afghan leaders under the watchful eye of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) seem have run into identity problems. The insurgent leader and one of the senior most commanders of the Taliban at the table, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, it now transpires, was an imposter. He was even flown down to Kabul in a Nato aircraft to have a natter with President Hamid Karzai and showered with money. Dear, oh dear, whatever happened to all that smart identification technology?

He was finally found out when an Afghan official noticed that he looked markedly different from the real Mansour. We can imagine the conversation. “My friend, when I last saw you, you looked far more prosperous and your eyes were green.“ The fake Mansour would answer, “I have knocked off a few pounds, brother, it's all this cave living and staying awake watching for the drones. Oh, I'm wearing brown contacts because I find the winter sun a bit harsh.“ The Taliban must be laughing up their beards that the Afghans and Nato fell for that old wheeze.

Now it's anyone's game. Are the Americans sure that the toothsome gent they have been yammering with in Islamabad is really Asif Zardari or some stand-up comic from Southall? Or that the man they thought was Hamid Karzai is not really an extra who had escaped years ago from the sets of Lawrence of Arabia?

You can never be sure these days if you are getting the real McCoy. This is where technology kicks in. What we need is a skeletal profile using the new scanners deployed in American airports. That way, we will be able to see right through any shyster posing as an insurgent. This is the only way to understand the situation inside out and not take things at face value.

Pssst. Talk low it was British MI7 operation on special order of Her Majesty. Operatives were trained to spot typical Taliban (brave muslim fighter) as per training book written in 1898. British know that they can trust a wheat eating martial cast warrior. So nothing wrong in it.

[VinodTK]

26/11: How India debated a war with Pakistan that November

By then, there was no doubt among any of those present at this meeting, which lasted for over two hours at the PM’s residence, that the entire attack had been controlled, coordinated and plotted by the Lashkar-e-Toiba and its handlers in Pakistan. An undeniable body of evidence had already piled up from the calls monitored between the terrorists and their handlers in the course of the attack. More evidence was pouring in by the hour. There was no way any government in New Delhi could drag its feet — the Prime Minister knew he had to ask the dreaded question to all those responsible for the defence of India.

He started with the words that the people of India “will not forgive us” for what had happened and that the government had indeed failed them. This was not an empty comment. About 10 days before, US intelligence had intercepted a phone call from “somewhere in the Arabian Sea” to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. The input with coordinates of the boat’s position had been passed on to Indian agencies and then disseminated but not with the immediacy and urgency it deserved. Coast Guard authorities carried out reconnaissance sorties but by then it was too late. They found nothing on those coordinates except for scores of fishing boats that looked alike. The boat had obviously moved on. The Coast Guard filed a report that it needed the latest coordinates. And that’s where matters lay until the night of November 26 when the 10 terrorists surfaced in the heart of Mumbai.

Yet, the Prime Minister kept his calm and turned to the three service chiefs. He asked them whether they had any options in mind. In the same breath, he preemptively made it clear that he did not favour another Operation Parakram. That option was off the table from day one, recall sources. The then Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta chose to remain quiet. After all, the Navy was carrying out exercises in the area when the 10 terrorists slipped in without raising an alarm. The Army Vice-Chief wanted to wait for Gen Kapoor to return before they could crystallise their thoughts.

It was Air Chief Marshal Fali Major who eventually spoke up and suggested striking terror camps in PoK. The Air Chief was sure that his planes and pilots could do the job but the intelligence agencies would have to provide the coordinates. There was no further discussion on the subject that day, but it was also not the last conversation.

It is very strange, that the three service branches do not have pre-gamed plans; which they can propose to GOI, to respond to such challenges.

[aditya.agd]

It seems that we did not capture all the territories back from Pakistan after the Kargil war. Why are we celebrating the Vijay Divas then... Can someone please confirm that we did not win territories back from Pakistan?

"The Indian army launched its final attacks in the last week of July; as soon as the Drass subsector had been cleared of Pakistani forces, the fighting ceased on July 26. The day has since been marked as Kargil Vijay Diwas (Kargil Victory Day) in India. By the end of the war, India had resumed control of all territory south and east of the Line of Control, as was established in July 1972 as per the Simla Agreement.

However it had failed to occupy strategic peak Point 5353, Bunker Ridge, Saddle Ridge and Dalu Nag.[60] Point 5353 is the highest peak in the region which has a clear view of the National Highway 1 D that connects the Kashmir valley with Kargil; it remains occupied by Pakistan even a decade after the battle.[61]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kargil_War

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

Court orders registration of FIR against Geelani, Arundhati Roy

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 000961.cms

[ShivaS]

The Naval war college instructors did not even know that there was a stadium in Lahore named after Col Gadhafi. So much for Western arm chair experts and think Tanks who always Tank and live up to their name.

No wonder Pakis toy with unkil even while GUBOing! Uncle thinks he penetrated (Taliban I mean) but actually somebody else squeezing things out of him!

[Rupesh]

double post

[Rupesh]

1962’s unlearnt lessons

First, if Jawaharlal Nehru’s reading of the Chinese objectives towards the end of the traumatic clash of arms was grossly exaggerated, it may be partly because he had initially underestimated them in the same measure. For, in September 1962, after the Thagla Ridge incident and clashes and exchanges of fire as well as angry diplomatic notes, his and his government’s conclusion was that while there would be small skirmishes, clashes between border patrols, and violence on some scale, the Chinese would do “nothing big.” Perhaps underlying this belief was the thought that Nehru had expressed in Discovery of India: India was “too big a prize” and therefore if any power tried to invade and conquer it, the invasion would quickly turn into a much wider war.

Had India’s intelligence establishment not been utterly inadequate, it could probably have got wind of a carefully calibrated military action of limited duration that the Chinese were planning to “teach India a lesson”. Roderick Macfarquhar, the eminent Harvard Sinologist, in the third volume of his trilogy, The Origins of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, has fully documented all the meetings Mao Zedong presided over to minutely plan the entire operation. The legendary Marshal Liu Bochang was given overall military command, with veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War commanding the divisions that fought. Today the intelligence machine is greatly expanded and diversified. We also have had the National Security Council, the National Security Advisory Board and a network of think-tanks for some years. But sadly the system of collection and evaluation of intelligence and that of making policy on national security has improved only marginally. Moreover, Nehru was ill-served by his civilian and military advisers. None ever argued with him, leave alone expressing dissent from his view. “Panditji knows best” was the doctrine of the day.

Lieutenant-General B. M. Kaul’s appointment as the battlefield commander in NEFA was unfortunate. Though a first-rate military bureaucrat and a dynamic individual, he had no combat experience. Yet his clout with the defence minister and even the PM was so great that his superiors in the military thought it prudent not to cross his path. This resulted, on November 17, in the catastrophe of the commander of the once famous 4th Division, Major-General A. S. Pathania, panicking and demanding permission to withdraw immediately. Army Chief General P. N. Thapar, and GOC-in-C of Eastern Command Lieutenant-General S. P. Sen, were present at the corps HQ while Kaul was away, and could not be reached. They did nothing to restrain Pathania. When Brigadier Hoshiar Singh, sitting atop Sela Pass with enough men and equipment and determined to fight, tried to do so, he was threatened with court-martial.

[dinesha]

National Counter Terror Centre by next year: PC
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Natio ... -PC/718369

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said India’s capacity to deal with security challenges is better today than it was two years ago.
Addressing mediapersons at the completion of two years in the crucial post, Chidambaram said the National Counter Terrorism Centre could become operational by the end of 2011 if a decision on its inception is be taken before year-end. NCTC is being set up for strengthening the intelligence-sharing and analysing mechanism.
“I said that with the hope that a decision would be taken by the end of this year. Then I am hopeful that the NCTC would be set up within 12 months in comparison to 24 months that the US took (for a similar unit). I am confident that a decision on NCTC would be taken by the year-end,” he said.
Chidambaram also said the Detailed Project Report of the proposed National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) was ready and could be placed before the Cabinet Committee on Security for approval.

[dinesha]

Chidambaram: India better equipped to meet security challenges
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article924248.ece

....
The National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) was expected to become operational by 2011-end if a decision on its inception was taken by this year-end, he said.

Intelligence-sharing
The discussion paper on the NCTC was ready and deliberations had been held at different levels, he said. The NCTC would be set up for strengthening the intelligence-sharing and analysing mechanism in the country.
Referring to the proposed National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), Mr. Chidambaram said a detailed project report was ready and would now be placed before the Cabinet Committee on Security for approval. He said the proposed NATGRID would facilitate quick access to information on an individual, like details of banking, insurance, immigration, income tax, telephone and Internet usage.

[Philip]

Has anyone posted the detailed article on India's intel sat capabilities .It was I think not too long agoi in an AWST or JDW issue.Makes v.interesting reading.

[VinodTK]

Contrasting defence mindsets

India, in comparison, has been strangely placid in such troubled waters. To be sure, its military-civilian balance has at no point been at risk. But its defence spending, though more than China’s as a percentage of gross domestic product, has lagged in terms of actual capital expenditure. As a result, Indian Armed Forces usually have to make do with outdated equipment, as air force chief P.V. Naik hinted in October. A languorous ministerial and bureaucratic establishment that refuses to aggressively build up weaponries compounds the problem.

[dinesha]

Has anyone posted the detailed article on India's intel sat capabilities .It was I think not too long agoi in an AWST or JDW issue.Makes v.interesting reading.

you are referring to this. If not pl post.
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 90#p976490

[sunny y]

Not exactly related to Military but makes for an interesting read how Delhi Police solved Dhaula Kuan rape case....A well planned operation involving involving everything from HUMINT, TECHINT to money trails, forensics...





Thanks

[sunny y]

CBI website hacked by 'Pakistani Cyber Army'
http://www.hindustantimes.com/CBI-websi ... 34141.aspx

[VinodTK]

India starts building nuclear shelters

The shelters will also be built along the metro lines in the capital, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. Some big shelters will accommodate command and control centres, hospitals and training centres.

[RamaY]

Its Pak Observer!!! Probably they read it on BR.

[kit]

Cross posting

You can download the entire Wikileaks here

http://88.80.16.63/torrent/cablegate/ca ... 7z.torrent

http://www.wikileaks.ch/cablegate.html

[shyamd]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-emba ... nts/214462

48. (S//NF) SCA CTAD comment: According to Defense Intelligence Agency reporting, the Government of India (GoI) continues efforts to advance its computer security programs -- particularly in light of increased concerns over Chinese computer network exploitation efforts -- but progress is hampered by significant disagreements within its departments. The key GoI organizations involved in developing and implementing security policies are identified as the Ministry of Telecommunications and the Research and Analysis Wing. Although the Indian Army is primarily responsible for the security of military networks, Indian officials acknowledge Army representatives have been largely left out of discussions. Additionally, some other key groups, such as the National Technical Reconnaissance Organization and the Indian Defense Intelligence Agency, have reportedly failed to offer significant contributions. Private security companies are also concerned that the lack of input from the private sector may lead to unfair regulations regarding telecommunications monitoring.

[Rupesh]

As per the Union home ministry records, 395 people have been booked and lodged in various prisons under the OSA in the past 10 years. Home ministry spokesperson Onkar Kedia, however, said the OSA cases are being investigated by the state governments and “the total number of cases registered and the number of convictions secured are not centrally maintained”.

The National Crime Records Bureau also has no pan-Indian figures on the people arrested under the Act and the convictions. “We have no records on the OSA cases,” said Alok Kumar Verma, chief statistical officer of NCRB.

THE WEEK has unearthed official and court records that shed light on the misuse of the OSA, and heard the stories of those who were wrongly jailed for years. Havaldar Sabhajit Yadav, one of them, was arrested with Girija Shanker Pandey, a former Navy sailor, in Delhi on May 14, 2000. Yadav was branded an Inter-Services Intelligence operative and accused of passing ‘sensitive information’ to a Pakistani agent in Kathmandu.

The chargesheet, however, had nothing about the documents he was alleged to have carried and nothing was produced before the court. He was not allowed to speak in court, and if he did the police tortured him. After spending eight years in Tihar Jail, Yadav, along with Pandey, was acquitted by Delhi’s Tis Hazari court on January 28, 2009.

The court slammed the police for failing to prove the charges against him and said even the date and time of the arrest were given wrong. “If the accused persons were not arrested on the date and time as claimed by the prosecution, the alleged recovery from them becomes doubtful,” said the court. Nobody, however, was punished for wrongly jailing them for eight years.

In the case of Brig. Ujjal Dasgupta, director (computers), Research and Analysis Wing, who was arrested on July 19, 2006 for allegedly passing on sensitive information to a US embassy employee working undercover for the CIA, the police are yet to frame the charges. After four years in jail, he was released on bail last month

Additional Deputy Commissioner Rajan Bhagat, who is Delhi Police spokesperson, refused to give details of the specific case but said there was no question of planting evidence against anybody. “We work on investigation and specific information. We produce suspects in the court,” he said. “The verdict is in the hands of court.”

Ramananda Taorem, 50, a lawyer, was arrested by the Imphal Police under the OSA on September 14, 2009. A year later, the government released him and withdrew the cases. A cardiac patient and now suffering from monoparesis (partial loss of movement of a single body part), Taorem had a minor stroke in jail and a major one after the release. He is yet to regain his ability to speak.

The OSA is in practice in India since 1921 but its use had been limited till the terrorist attack on Parliament in 2001. After that the Act became, according to a former intelligence official, an abomination. What was intended for a discrete set of suspects was being used against people on mere suspicion. The monetary awards and promotions for such arrests added to the rampant misuse

The arrests and trials in the OSA cases follow a strikingly similar pattern. The accused are brought to court in heavy security cover. In court, all proceedings are held in camera. The evidences are kept in files marked ‘secret’, and are never disclosed to the designated party. “In dozens of cases the police have used hand-drawn sketches of Army cantonments as evidence against the accused. The language of chargesheets and confessional statements often read similar as if they were written by the same person,” said Supreme Court lawyer Balwant Singh Bilowria, who has handled many OSA cases.

Bilowria mentions the sketches of the Meerut cantonment, which have been used in different cases against different people in different parts of the country. On May 27, yet another person, Chand Kumar Prasad, a 24-year-old aircraft mechanic in the Navy’s Aircraft Maintenance Unit in Mumbai, was arrested for allegedly carrying a bunch of ‘secret’ documents that included photographs of Meerut. He is now in Tihar Jail.

Among those calling for a review of the Act is former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. In the 1990s, two of his friends, space scientists S. Nambi Narayanan and D. Sasikumaran, were wrongly booked under the OSA for being part of a spy ring. Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily, as head of the Administrative Reforms Commission, has recommended that the OSA should be repealed and safeguards to protect the security of state should be incorporated in the National Security Act. The home ministry, however, does not agree with the recommendations

The competing needs for secrecy and the public’s right to know have long posed a dilemma for the governments. Though at times the government has allowed intelligence officers to write books on their work and the agencies, including one by former head of the counter-terrorism division of R&AW B. Raman that accuses Rajiv Gandhi of covering up the Bofors probe, often it goes after those who speak about the secret world. Former joint secretary of the R&AW, Major General (retd) V.K. Singh’s book, India’s External intelligence—Secrets of the Research & Analysis Wing, exposed corruption and a series of abuses in the agency. Three months after the book was published, Singh’s house was raided and he was booked under the OSA

Clearly it is not always the sensitive issues of national security that make the authorities angry. Social activist Medha Patkar was arrested for saying that the Gujarat government was quietly raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam, which would endanger the homes and livelihood of people living in the surrounding villages. She was immediately booked under the OSA for leaking ‘state secrets’ to the public. The government, however, succumbed to public pressure and released her.

It took Dr B.K. Subbarao, a retired captain of the Navy, five years of legal fight to prove that the ‘top-secret document’ of India’s nuclear submarine found in his suitcase was in fact his own PhD thesis at the IIT-Bombay. The other document, he said, which the police had claimed to have recovered from him, was available in the library. He was jailed for 20 months on charges of espionage.

The Mumbai High Court acquitted him of all charges, and the verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court. “It is not that every scrap of paper or every document relating to those authorities is to be classified, and even if a classification is put down, such classification may not hold for all time and that it is basic duty of the prosecution to point out how the disclosure of these documents would be a threat to the security of the country,” said the court.

Act of tyranny

[shyamd]

Rangudu made a comment in another thread about US providing most intel on lashkar to india before the arrest is made. This is accurate however, all arrests within India are made after independent verification by our intel/police. This is the standard operating procedure.

[ShivaS]

Oh what a country Are ooh Samba (spy) case (Not Sholay0 which ended as tragic case for young Lts, Capts and Havaldars.

But we are magnanimous to BDR, ISI Kasab whom we treat as Mehamans for killing Indians no wonder the Wikkie leaks say India will never retaliate becfause of its peaceful army....

[Craig Alpert]

Blast at Varanasi's Dashashwamedh Ghat, 20 injured
Amazing how ignorant some of the "security offical's and their comments" get. Here's an example ""We have alerted our personnel. We have stepped up vigil. Anyway, our personnel are always on alert," a senior police official said." Well then maybe he ought to explain how the blast took place in the first place is they are always on alert!

Varanasi blast: Indian Mujaheedin e-mail sent from Malad

MUMBAI: An e-mail sent by banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen to several media houses claiming responsibility for the Varanasi blast today was sent from Malad in Mumbai.

The Internet Protocol address of the five-page e-mail signed by 'Al-Arbi' was located to Malad in the suburbs of Mumbai and police teams were immediately rushed to the area, official sources said.

Terrorists of Indian Mujahideen have been using unsecured WiFi connections for sending mails to media houses within minutes of the blasts.

[VinodTK]

Defence diplomacy

While the external interaction of the Indian armed forces has grown considerably since the early 1990s, Beijing scores over Delhi in the better institutionalisation and greater integration of its military diplomacy with the conduct of external relations. A recent report in the PLA Daily underlines what it calls the “splendour” of China’s military diplomacy.

[VinodTK]

Patronage as a U.S. force multiplier

So blatant, widespread and generous is Washington's largesse to the students — facilitating and financing, as it does, their pursuit of eclectic disciplines like the liberal arts, English literature and, even, art and history in leading U.S. institutions — that it is worth asking to what extent Indian policy on a range of issues of interest to America remains ‘hostage' to the children of a growing number of Delhi's powerful decision-makers. The scholarship recipients' list is embarrassingly revelatory.

[Kailash]

Cops recover army file from ISI suspect

[VinodTK]

India's Military Might: Hype over Substance

As a percentage of GDP, annual defense spending has declined to one of its lowest levels since 1962. More damaging, the defense ministry has not been able to spend its budgetary allocation for the last several years. The defense acquisition process remains mired in corruption and bureaucracy. A series of defense procurement scandals since the late 1980s have also made the bureaucracy risk averse, thereby delaying the acquisition process India's indigenous defense production industry has time and again made apparent its inability to meet the demands of the armed forces. While the armed forces keep waiting for arms and equipment, the finance ministry is left with unspent budget funds year after year. Most large procurement programs get delayed, resulting in cost escalation and technological or strategic obsolescence of the budgeted items.

[sum]

Special teams hunt for 31 IM terrorists

In an offensive against cadres of Indian Mujahideen [ Images ], the government has formed special teams to locate 31 most wanted men of the banned outfit, whose list has been circulated to all states and union territories.

According to official sources, these special teams will make "concerted efforts" to apprehend the absconding IM terrorists within the country and coordinate with foreign countries where they are suspected to be holed in.

The detailed dossiers about the IM militants along with photographs have also been shared with a few Gulf countries as intelligence inputs suggested that some of them were currently based there their with Pakistani passports.

The sources said some of the foreign countries had already started helping the security agencies and begun surveillance on some suspects.

Among these 31 terrorists, eight are from Uttar Pradesh [ Images ] (all from Azamgarh), ten from Karnataka [ Images ] (three of them from Bhatkal), six from Kerala [ Images ] (all from Kannur), three from Maharashtra [ Images ] and two each from Gujarat and Jharkhand.

Of these terrorists, majority were either in Pakistan or in Middle-East while around 10 are in India, the sources said.

[Raghavendra]

‘Spy’ held in Mumbai took orders from ISI officers at Delhi mission
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/spy-h ... on/725406/

A 28-year-old visa agent arrested in the city last week on suspicion of spying for Pakistan had allegedly scouted 20-25 terrorism targets across the country on the orders of two diplomats posted at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi, the police said on Wednesday. Among the sites scouted by Javed Abdul Gafoor Mozawala were dams, bridges, cantonments and other vital installations, they said.

Sources told The Indian Express that the two diplomats were senior Pakistan Army officers linked to the ISI, on deputation at the High Commission. One is believed to be of Lieutenant Colonel rank; the other a Major. A report detailing dealings between them and Mozawala is being sent to the Centre, and the process of declaring the officers persona non-grata would be initiated soon, they said.According to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch which arrested Mozawala on December 10, the suspect had, during frequent trips to Delhi over the past two years, passed on pictures of these sites on a microchip to the diplomats.

“Our Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) received information that a man identified as Javed Mozawala, residing in Byculla, was involved in anti-national activities. CIU raided his residence on confirmation that material evidence was likely to be found,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy.“Investigations have revealed that Mozawala was a well-embedded asset.

He was in touch with two senior officials in the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, and was working under their instructions. We are in communication with the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding these two diplomats. Over the last two years, Mozawala had scouted around 20 to 25 important locations in and around Mumbai and other parts of the country. He used to pass on sensitive information on a microchip to these two officials,” said Roy.

The sites surveyed by Mozawala include the ISRO headquarters in Bangalore, the Western Naval Command office opposite the Reserve Bank of India on Mumbai’s Mint Road, and strategically located bridges across the country, sources said.Mozawala had also scouted the Koyna dam in Maharashtra to assess the potential for causing massive devastation by blowing it up, the sources added. Mozawala, a Class 8 dropout, has been booked under the Official Secrets Act and for forgery under the Indian Penal Code. He is in police custody until December 20. “From his residence we seized a manual in English on communications and tactics meant for Islamic terror organisations and groups, which is not available on the Internet or in the public domain.

He was also in possession of telephone numbers of senior officials, defence establishments and vital installations that are for restricted use only. We have seized photographs of dams, bridges, defence cantonments and vital installations during the raids, as well as mobile phones, SIM cards, CDs, and pen drives,” Roy said.

The police have also found that Mozawala underwent a civil aviation course in ground handling. They have seized two certificates of the course conducted by a Mumbai institute. “The course deals with ground handling, and since this does not fit with his career profile it could have sinister implications. Getting a job in cargo handling could get him access to restricted areas,” Roy said.

According to the police, Mozawala would liaise with the Pakistan High Commission to get people Pakistani visas. He is believed to have made several trips to Pakistan other than the two on record — and is likely to have been indoctrinated and given terror training. He was paid from time to time in return, including money to buy the small apartment in which he had been living for the past six months.

[dinesha]

Centre planning to set up telecom security panel
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 108958.cms

NEW DELHI: With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assuring corporates about the government's move to tighten the phone tapping monitoring system, the Centre is mulling over setting up a telecom security commission — a joint body of business and security agencies — and bringing a new law, similar to that of in the United States.

The new law will make it mandatory for telecom operators to design and modify their system to ensure lawfully authorised electronic surveillance of all their services, including internet and voice over internet protocol (VOIP).
While, the law will make the surveillance more broad based through in-built mechanism provided by telecom operators, the commission will address the concerns of public privacy, industries and security agencies.

Government sources said, the commission, which may be in place early next year, will also have representatives of home and telecom ministries. It will address security and industry concerns of all stakeholders in the telecom sector. Any joint decision taken by the Commission would then act as a charter for the industry, they added.

The new law, sources said, will be on the lines of the United States' Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which will ensure that the law enforcement agencies have all the resource at their disposal to combat crime and support Central agencies through "built-in surveillance capabilities". The law in US allows federal agencies to monitor all telephone, broadband internet and VOIP in "real time", unlike India, where the existing law only allows monitoring on a "case-to-case basis".

"The purpose of the new law will be to preserve the ability of law enforcement to conduct electronic surveillance in the face of rapid advances in telecom technology. It will make it mandatory for the telecom operators and equipment manufacturers to design or modify their system to assist security agencies in constant surveillance," said an official. The discussion regarding any such law is, however, at a very nascent stage. Last week, India had asked the US to share with it the provisions of the CALEA, which, besides technological support, also ensures balancing the needs of law enforcement with the competing aims of encouraging the new communications services and protecting customer privacy.

[Virupaksha]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-emba ... nts/180760
Cable about reactions of 26/11

reading the above cable, gives me goosebumps .

i) There are people called PolCouns and Poloff, who have heavy connections with the inside of the govt and possibly handlers.
ii) searched for PolCouns on google. All are references to India's wiki leaks cables. I am guessing it to be a psuedonym for a handler.
iii) Searched for Poloff, it is the last name of a well connected US family/is a name of position in US embassy.
iv) According to my interpretation of XXXXXXXX's, there are atleast two spies of US in very high places whose reports have been consolidated into this particular report. More analysis as of now is not possible as these XXXXXXX's are computer generated and not blanked out portions, so as to compare sizes.
v) The culture of spies in congress continues unabated. Ref: 12c

[Rajput]

"Poloff" = "Political Officer"
"Polcouns" = "Political Counsel"

[abhishek_sharma]

Pak spy tried to cultivate naval officer as source: Police

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Pak-s ... ce/727366/

[Manish_P]

Although i was expecting the usual 'due to pressure of circumstances...' sob-stuff, i am taken aback to see this article in the usually impartial Mumbai Mirror. I now shudder to think what levels of spin its competitor Mid-day will give to this B&^@!#(@

'Bad choices made good student a spy'

Link: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/2/2 ... a-spy.html

Some gems from the article -

In fact, his mother Kulsum Bi says, he looks “just like Salman Khan”.

A character certificate by the Mother, how can anyone dispute that..

In 2002, Kulsum Bi was jailed for dowry harassment and culpable homicide not amounting to murder, when she allegedly pushed her elder daughter-in-law off the terrace of the Mira Road house, in which the family was temporarily staying. She was acquitted a year later. “This was the only criminal case against the family until now. Their track record was otherwise clean,” said a senior Crime Branch officer.

Another character certificate, this time from the cops...

Ah and now the punchline...

“He was not indoctrinated or driven by a fundamentalist ideology. He was a victim of circumstances.

Added later :-
Check out how the article bullets the points 'Good in studies', 'Marries a doctor', 'Once in, no way out'

[ashokpachori]

impartial Mumbai Mirror

Owned by Times Group - Bennett Coleman & company.
Its a extention of TOI.

[Nikhil T]

IB snaps ONGC's cyber communication plans

[Manish_P]

@Ashokpachori.

I am aware of that the MM is part of the same group as TOI

The TOI also has an article on the same day. It has taken the 'tortured in police custody' route..

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 136101.cms

[Rahul Mehta]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 108958.cms

The new law will make it mandatory for telecom operators to design and modify their system to ensure lawfully authorised electronic surveillance of all their services, including internet and voice over internet protocol (VOIP).

If two ppl have internet in their mobiles and they use plain vanilla PublicKey-PrivateKey encryption to speak to each other, howTH will GoI snoop the conversation?

[Austin]

If two ppl have internet in their mobiles and they use plain vanilla PublicKey-PrivateKey encryption to speak to each other, howTH will GoI snoop the conversation?

They cant , unless they can steal the private key through some malicious software installed on mobiles.