Intelligence & National Security Discussion

[Austin]

Not just pakistan but "it appears that potential victims have been targeted in over a dozen countries, most heavily represented by Pakistan, Iran, and the United States. Targets include government, military and civilian organisations," the report says."

Most likely done by cyber groups in India then some Intel operation.

[shyamd]

Iran is the suprising one... US is not surprising - US reports routinely accuse us of indulging in this stuff for the last few decades.

[nits]

^^^ Links detailing full report below

Unveiling an Indian Cyberattack Infrastructure - a special report

Norman HangOver report (Executive Summary)

Unveiling an Indian Cyberattack Infrastructure

Unveiling an Indian Cyberattack Infrastructure (Appendixes)

[nits]

2 countries which are explicitly mentioned in report are Pak and China; there are # of Companies which are also targeted for Industrial espinoage

[ramana]

'Sophisticated' Indian cyberattacks targeted Pak military sites, extracted data over 3 years - @IndianExpress http://t.co/rarm3DDrwZ

Of course it will be all forgotten and we'll be back to bashing intel. Bad news sells better

Cyber analysts in Norway have claimed that hackers based in India have been targeting government and military agencies in Pakistan for the last three years, extracting information of national security interest to India.

Its psy-ops to blame India. Look at the source. Put India in same gang as China and other malcontents.

[Brando]

Attribution of Responsibility

In recent months, much focus has been on China–including both state-sponsored and individual actors–but Operation Hangover contains notable hallmarks of originating exclusively in India. We base this attribution with a very high degree of confidence on our extensive analysis of IP addresses, web-site domain registrations, and text-based identifiers contained within the mali-cious code itself. All indications point to private syndicates of threat actors following their own motivations, with no direct evidence of state-sponsorship by the Indian government or by any other nation.

Apparently one of the "alleged" culprits behind this is a company in Delhi called Appin Software Security Ltd which is a "professional" malware developer indulging in industrial espionage and apparently "strategic" espionage also.

The real question is why ANY private company or private "syndicate" would want with strategic level intelligence ?

[Austin]

Espionage Cases MOD Press 06-May, 2013

A total of 32 ISI backed espionage modules have been neutralized in the country during 2010-13 resulting in the arrest of 50 espionage agents (40 Indians and 10 foreign nationals).

A well-coordinated and multi-pronged approach is in place to tackle with the espionage activities by Indian and Foreign nationals including Pakistanis, which includes preventing infiltration and illegal cross border activities, gearing up the Intelligence machinery, coordination between different agencies of Government, modernization, strengthening and upgradation of State Police and Security Forces.

This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Shri Syed Shahnawaz Hussain in Lok Sabha today.

[Brando]

[url=http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/world ... d=all&_r=0[/url]

An excellent article in the NYT regarding the thriving private sector cyber security and cyber espionage world, it is quite conceivable some Indian companies also engage in these activities here in India although not to the degree prevalent in China where "cybersecurity" degrees are handed out from top universities, creating a class of "certified hackers".

[shyamd]

AP and their security set up.

In Andhra Pradesh, acting intelligence chief cannot enter her office

TNN May 21, 2013, 01.18AM IST

HYDERABAD: Strange things are happening in Andhra Pradesh's police intelligence set-up. In the absence of intelligence chief Mahender Reddy who has gone on leave, additional director general of police A R Anuradha has been appointed temporary chief. But she has been told not to enter the office of the intelligence bureau. "How can she function as the chief if she is not allowed entry into her office?" asked a senior police officer.

According to stories doing the rounds in the police headquarters, Mahender Reddy who has gone to the US on 10 days leave did not want to give charge to anybody outside the intelligence set-up on the grounds that his department deals with 'secret' matters that could not be shared with other police officers. However, director general of police Dinesh Reddy handed over charge to Anuradha on the grounds that the number two in the intelligence set-up - N Balasubramanyam - is chargesheeted - in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case. Sources say that the moment Mahender heard this, he called up Dinesh Reddy and prevailed upon him to not allow Anuradha to go to the intelligence office. "In effect, this means that Balasubramanyam will be the boss in the absence of the chief," a senior police officer told TOI. The intelligence bureau operates from a huge office with a glass facade in the Lakdi-ka-pul area of the city about half a kilometre from the state police headquarters.

He added that the intelligence bureau has emerged as a shadowy organization which is part of the police set-up, but that is increasingly showing signs of insulating itself. They said that the trend started from the time of Arvind Rao who was first intelligence chief and then director general of police. "Nobody really knows what is happening within the bureau, but they have enormous funding and operate outside the state also," police officers told TOI. "It is trying to become like the Intelligence Bureau at the Centre with no equivalent mandate," the officers added.

Why Dinesh Reddy agreed to comply with the request of Mahender Reddy is not known, but the obvious implication is that even the police chief cannot prevail over the intelligence chief - in spite of being many years senior to him. Mahender Reddy who is of the rank of additional director general of police joined the intelligence bureau in 2009 and Balasubramanyam a year later.

[Paul]

http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/ ... 075&BV_ID=@@@

The nasty and the northeast

By Anupam Dasgupta/ Guwahati, Agartala and Shillon

Story Dated: Monday, April 1, 2013 11:40 hrs IST

Manir Khan's 'operational area' was Assam. The sub-inspector with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence had executed two 'assignments' in the state. But he was third time unlucky, as Indian sleuths nabbed him from west Tripura in July 2010.
Khan told interrogators that his duty was to ferry back “quality information” for better “tactical appreciation” of cross-national issues to his masters in Pakistan. In his initial visits, Khan had carried out “feasibility recces” of the Tripura corridor connecting Bangladesh-Tripura and Assam, says an interrogation report.
Apparently, the ISI had been using the corridor to push Bangladeshi migrants into 
the northeast. But the fencing of the Indo-Bangla border in Tripura blocked the flow.
“Khan stationed himself in the port areas of Kolkata. He then switched to Comilla in Bangladesh, before entering west Tripura,” Inspector General (Intelligence) Bishu Kishore Debbarma of the Tripura Police told THE WEEK.
Khan hibernated briefly in a densely populated fringe port in Kolkata named Kidderpore. “We know about the sleeping terror modules [in the Kidderpore area] and it is anyone's guess that they could be activated to trigger trouble anywhere in the country,” says an intelligence official.
Security officers say Khan—a “utility support agent” of the ISI—always had Assam in his crosshairs. “He had interesting links,” says Assam Director-General of Police Jayanto N. Choudhury. “Presence like that of Khan's on our territory is worrying. It suits Pakistan to keep our armed forces bogged in internal security duties and issues on the northeastern frontiers.”
Security sources say that the flare-up over the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Hill Council during the Assam panchayat elections, on February 12, 2013, was “engineered” to foment territorial unrest.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi blamed the absence of adequate ground intelligence and pointed to extraneous elements behind the flare-up. Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh, too, had said that the government believed Pakistan was behind last year's riots 
in Assam.
Pakistan's interest in Assam is not new. Shagom Ali, another ISI operative picked up from Tripura in 2011, too, had told interrogators that Assam was his “operational area”. But, officials are worried that the current sociopolitical conditions in the state could aid the ISI's long-term agenda.
The ISI is not alone in the game. It has an ally in the Bangladesh's Directorate General of Forces Intelligence. And to top that we have an overarching China doing its bit. In fact, the Indian security establishment has zeroed in on two Chinese government agencies which are fuelling unrest in the northeast.
The ISI found the going relatively tougher after Sheikh Hasina assumed power in Bangladesh in 2008. She reined in the DGFI at a time when hordes of illegal migrants flooded Assam, threatening to permanently alter the state's demography. But, with the ebbing of her popularity since late 2010 (and now the Shahbagh Square uprising), the ISI is back at it.
The arrest of All-Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) president Ranjit Debbarma a few days before the Tripura Assembly elections on February 14 revealed that the ISI was gnawing at India through the northeast in more ways than one.
The veteran militant apparently told interrogators that the ISI had been pumping in fake currency into India via militant groups. Between the late 90s and 2004, the ISI 'paid' ATTF at least three times.
The new conduit is the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) which, according to Debbarma, has 19 active training camps in the Chittagong hills. Top intelligence sources say these camps are of “immense security concern” and that the NLFT has at least 150 well-trained militants waiting to enter India.
Debbarma told interrogators that the ISI was taking “renewed and firm interest” in the joint training camps of militant outfits like the NLFT. “The ISI has been wanting the northeastern insurgents to create mayhem in major cities,” says a top intelligence officer. “However, things have not worked according to their plan so far, and the ISI masters are peeved.”
Debbarma's interrogation report says the ISI's current strategy is to “keep the northeast on perennial boil”. According to a Military Intelligence missive, the ISI “provides strategic guidance to militants to increase scale of terrorism” and indulges in “propaganda campaign” to create fissures in the country's social fabric.
And the ISI's reported links with radical organisations in the northeast such as the Muslim United Liberation Front of Assam, the Islamic Security Force of India and the Muslim Volunteer Force are certainly not good news for India.
In fact, there is more bad news. Security officials say a section of the ISI, “entrusted” with northeastern affairs, is planning the “relaunch” of Ulfa's fugitive commander Paresh Baruah, in the event of “favourable developments” in Bangladesh.
Reports say Baruah, believed to be hiding in the Yunan province along the China-Myanmar border, has been pally with the ISI and the Chinese. Sources say the Ulfa's deviation from its core ideology was machinated by the ISI, which wanted the ethnic Assamese militant group to take migrants from Bangladesh under its wing.
What worries the Indian security officials more is the ISI joining hands with Chinese agencies. A Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) assessment says Chinese agencies have been supplying money and weapons to northeast militant groups through the ISI. Incidentally, a recent report that the Ulfa has received about 3,000 radio-controlled improvised explosive devices has left security officials on tenterhooks.
The Military Intelligence, too, has cautioned about a possible Ulfa resurgence and the ISI's “military training augmentation plans” for similar outfits in Chittagong.
Viewed in this light, the threat of the Strategic United Front mooted two years ago by China and Pakistan to bring together all militant formations in the northeast and Kashmir under one umbrella cannot be taken lightly.
Intelligence officers say Assam's vulnerability has been accentuated with the ISI's “outnumbering game”. Its current game-plan is “construction of communalism” in the northeast. The “engineered and targeted migrations”, especially in Goalpara and Dhubri—the gateway districts to the northeast—are altering the local demography. At least in seven districts of Assam, migrants have become a majority or close to it.
Official assessments accessed by THE WEEK show that over 8,000 bighas across Assam have been “illegally occupied” by migrants.
The last thing the security apparatus in the northeast needed was the Naxal fortification. Naxalites have been gradually tightening their grip in certain pockets of Assam, and the police are planning to raise a special commando group to tackle the threat.
Aditya Bora, a former Ulfa chieftain who is now a Naxal commander in Assam, worked to get the Naxals closer to militant formations, says an intelligence report. And Bora's arrest from Saranda in Orissa in February 2011 confirmed the bonhomie between the Naxals of upper Assam and some leaders of militant groups like Ulfa.
“We have concrete information that Naxals eyeing Assam are being trained in insurgent warfare at Camp Hebron run by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (I-M) in Dimapur district,” says a top police officer.
The Naxals, indeed, have a strong sway among upper Assam's “tea labour community”, and the National Investigation Agency has arrested some top leaders in Assam over the past few years.
Stray arrests will only show that the problem exists. What is needed is concerted action to root out the evil.

Terror trail

* Interrogation report of Pakistani spy Manir Khan reveals that ISI wanted northeast militants to target Indian cities.

* Bangladesh is a launching pad for the ISI to wage war against India. In March 2012, ISI admitted to funding the right-wing Bangladesh National Party (BNP) during the 1991 general elections. ISI plans to relaunch Ulfa chief Paresh Baruah in the event of a regime change in Bangladesh.

* According to the Research and Analysis Wing, Chinese agencies have teamed up with the ISI to keep terror groups active in the northeast.

* There are 36 major terror groups in Assam; Manipur has 39.

* Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh together have 33 terror groups. The ISI allegedly uses the National Liberation Front of Tripura to pump fake currency into India according to the R&AW.

* There are six terror groups in Meghalaya and Nagaland. Adding to security concerns, Naxals are being trained at Camp Hebron in Nagaland's Dimapur district, says a top security official.

We are focussing on the military threat from China wheras the short term and immediate threat is demographic.

[yvijay]

AP and their security set up.

In Andhra Pradesh, acting intelligence chief cannot enter her office

I don't see anything there to do . Mahender Reddy has got excellent reputation in AP police department and he might have his own reasons for doing it.

[abhishek_sharma]

Coomi Kapoor's column

Tweeting his goodbye

Former senior RAW official and security analyst B Raman is suffering from cancer that has spread from his blood to his liver. Despite the pain and disability, Raman has been tweeting about the disease: "Sinking slowly but steadily, a losing battle.'' "Unbearable pain, trying to sleep sans morphine.'' "I no longer have the courage to live longer, planning to formalise my will''. Amidst his suffering, Raman even endorsed Narendra Modi for prime minister, "Back NaMo for PM. He may not live up to expectations but he will be refreshingly different,'' he tweeted. The tweet has elicited a grateful acknowledgment from the Gujarat government.

Let us go easy. Not an easy time for him.

[fanne]

So that the old man is going...(and this is not a sentimental response, I will put my two cents). Let me say what is going on. BRaman was no anti-national. He befriended the Sonia Congress to destroy/change is from within, where he had to show loyalty at times writing against national interest (that we criticized or wondered what is wrong with him). He was no different then Dixit, who I believe was k%%% by this regime. Now that he is going, he is just letting it go and say the right things.

rgds,
fanne
Ps - I have heard that while RG is out an out anti-India, foreign handled/brainwashed PG is still national, though both incompetent. That's why even PG can get them more vote than RG, she is not being promoted.

[Nikhil T]

So that the old man is going...(and this is not a sentimental response, I will put my two cents). Let me say what is going on. BRaman was no anti-national. He befriended the Sonia Congress to destroy/change is from within, where he had to show loyalty at times writing against national interest (that we criticized or wondered what is wrong with him). He was no different then Dixit, who I believe was k%%% by this regime. Now that he is going, he is just letting it go and say the right things.

rgds,
fanne
Ps - I have heard that while RG is out an out anti-India, foreign handled/brainwashed PG is still national, though both incompetent. That's why even PG can get them more vote than RG, she is not being promoted.

B Raman has done a yeoman's service in bringing Intelligence issues to the reach of the common man. Whether anyone chooses to agree with him on a particular issue is of his or her own choosing.

[manu.p]

JuD chief Hafeez Saeed's security head Khalid Bashir kidnapped, found murdered ......... 'signs of torture'

http://tribune.com.pk/story/551375/myst ... -murdered/

[VinodTK]

India, Japan join hands to break China's 'string of pearls'

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The two sides agreed to institutionalize joint exercises by their navies and to increase their frequency even as Japan offered its highly advanced sea plane Shinmaywa or US-2 in what is the first instance of Tokyo's willingness to offer a technology that has both military and civilian applications. A very sophisticated craft, the amphibian plane has a very long range and can land and take off in choppy waters.
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The new momentum in ties was evident from the statements of both the prime ministers which stood out against the backdrop of the advice of People's Daily, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, that Japan should deal with China in a calm way and not be swayed by "internal and international provocateurs".

In a toughly-worded opinion piece, the daily lashed out at Japanese politicians, calling them "petty burglars" on China-related issues. Surprisingly, the Chinese daily said India and China were able to resolve their standoff over the incursion of People's Liberation Army in Ladakh swiftly, saying, "In the development of Sino-Indian ties, there are several divergence (sic) and contradictions. Some countries see these differences as an opportunity to provoke dissension."

If the comment was intended to deter India and Japan, the effort ended in failure. "It is not only our spiritual and cultural affinities that bring us together, but also our shared commitment to democracy and international peace. The success of our partnership is vital for the prosperity of our people and indispensable for a future of peace and stability in Asia and Pacific region," Singh said in his banquet speech.

He elaborated on that in his statement to the media, "India and Japan are natural and indispensable partners for advancing prosperity in our two countries and for a peaceful, stable, cooperative and prosperous future for the Asia- Pacific and Indian Ocean regions."

Saying that the maritime democracies were obligated to safeguard oceans, Abe said, "India from the west, Japan from the east, the confluence of the two most deep-rooted democracies is already one important part of international common good for the 21st century. I am of a belief that it is important that Japan and India should ensure that Asia remains in peace and prosperity."

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[svinayak]

Saying that the maritime democracies were obligated to safeguard oceans, Abe said, "India from the west, Japan from the east, the confluence of the two most deep-rooted democracies is already one important part of international common good for the 21st century. I am of a belief that it is important that Japan and India should ensure that Asia remains in peace and prosperity."

India and Japan have the opportunity to not only change Asia but the entire world in the near future

[sum]

X-post:

Intel operation gone wrong?
Cop wanted to kill terrorists who beheaded jawans

Sub-inspector Shiv Kumar Sharma alias Sonu, arrested for allegedly plotting a grenade attack at a police station in Doda, was working on a plan to kill the terrorists involved in beheading of two jawans along with Pak soldiers in Mendhar sector on January 1.
Sonu was shown the video
clip of beheading of army personnel by his source Abdul Rashid, alias Abdullah, a top terrorist of Lashkar-e-Taiba who was involved in a number of killings and had surrendered before him in 2008, and was subsequently released on bail.

Sonu along with a head constable was arrested on Monday by the police after five accused arrested earlier had told the police that they were supplied arms and ammunition by Sonu to revive terrorism in the district.

According to sources, Abdullah, who was in regular touch with Sonu, had only recently in their secret meeting had shown him the video clip of beheading the soldiers.

"Sonu, who had killed about 70 terrorists individually, was incensed after seeing the video. He made it a point to kill them. As part of the plan, he asked Abdullah to bring the terrorists involved in the beheading incident to Doda district. He had planned to eliminate them here," said a source, wishing not to be named. The source had the video clip. Abdullah had demanded money for it to which Sonu agreed.

As part of the plan, Abdullah called his mentor Khubed, a top LeT terrorists operating across the border, to send some terrorists in the district to revive terrorism.

"Khubid told Abdullah that he first has to make some terrorist strikes to convince them that he is still active after which the terrorists can be send," said the source.

Sources said Abdullah had specifically asked for terrorist involved in beheading of Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh.

Shouldnt this jawan actually be rewarded?

[Aaryan]

In Afghanistan CIA officials were feeling restless.. There were chatters in the jihadi circles and in jihadi communication about something big.. But they were not able to pin point what is it.. Few days later lady luck smiled and there was an there was an ambush on a patrol party.. The patrol party fought hard and was able to eliminate the attackers.. Suddenly while searching the killed jihadis, they found a letter in pocket of the leader of the jehadis.. The letter contained few details and few names.. One of the name was of a prominent lawyer from another part of country.. He had sent few locals from that part of the country to terrorist camp across the border.. Investigation followed, pressure was applied and the lawyer was ready to co-operate.. He told the intelligence officials a name.. Say Mr ‘X’.. Mr ‘X’ was the key man for the latest attack that was being planned.. But still something was missing.. Now things moved fast, they moved from the desk of analyst to ground operative’s.. After watching Mr ‘X’ for some time, the operatives found out that Mr ‘X’ had an accomplice Ms ‘ Y’.. Although Miss Y belonged to a very traditional family, she had no problem in travelling with Mr X, and staying with him in same hotel, sharing same room with him for days with hotel registers showing them as husband and wife.. Miss Y would keep a secret diary which contained secret codes of communication.. he would travel to far off places to make calls to Mr Y , so that her calls can’t be traced.. The operatives soon realized that Miss Y was hand in gloves with Mr X.. She was not just a sympathizer, but an active member of jihadi group.. So the officials decided that now is the time to act.. After some time the lawyer on behest of CIA officials, signaled Mr X that everything is in place.. Mr X contacted his handlers across the border and asked for two fedayeen jehadis.. Two fedayeens were sent to Afghanistan, but they were watched all the time by CIA.. Those fedayeens meet Mr X and Mr X contacts Miss Y and they leave for their destination in a car with two fedayeens.. CIA officials monitoring their movement, passed on the tip to Local Army commander about the movement and the attack.. The local commander makes some call, and a Drone is flown.. The drone finds them, locks on them and a missile is launched killing all the 4 terrorist.. (Few Days later the jihadi organizations website morns the death of Mr X and more prominently Miss Y.. They describe her as martyr, and their active member.. Few years later, an international terrorist accepts that Miss Y was indeed an active Fedayeen ) Next day news paper publish the story.. We all read the story and think.. WoW the US intelligence agencies are so good.. We praise them, and quote them as how they averted a major terrorist attack.. RIGHT???
Wrong.. Now replace Afghanistan with India, CIA with IB, Mr X with Javed Sheikh, Miss Y with Ishrat Jahan Raza , local army commander with Gujarat Police officials and drone attack with encounter.. And what we get??
1. We get t 3 agencies probing the case after 9 years of encounter.( CBI, NIA, SIT)
2. We get the center applying pressure on the agencies to somehow implicate Mr Modi.
3. We get the cops who carried out the encounter behind the bars and their career destroyed.
4. And now we get the cover of intelligence officials who were part of operations, blown..
C.B.I is now questioning IB officials and this is supported by putting up a weird theory that this will lead to greater accountability in intelligence community.. Can someone please tell these so called intellectuals that, one agency grilling another for political motives is not related to accountability, but is a turf war and in this case it is a political move. Even if for arguments sake we just accept that CBI needs to question IB officials, then why can’t it be done quietly.. What was the motive behind leaking this news to media and revealing the name of IB officials.. Congress leaders say that CBI is questioning IB officials to reach the truth and is doing so under the guidance of Supreme Court.. What they won’t say is that, the case in Supreme court is of fake encounter.. SC is not interested in knowing if Ishrat was terrorist or not.. They want to know if she was killed in a genuine encounter or fake.. So this is purely a criminal investigation which could have been completed in few months.. Why is this case dragged on for 9 years??
5. Let’s go through some facts 1’st.. She(Ishrat) left home on at least three occasions for job interviews, but her family could not explain who the potential employers were ( actually she was staying at Mezban Hotel in Lucknow, the staff of hotel claim that Sheikh and Ishrat, using the pseudonyms Abdul Rahim and Ishrat Ayesha, shared room 204 on four days in May 2004 and registered as huband and wife. Mohammad Wasi, a resident of Ibrahimpur in Faizabad, says the visitors tried to buy weapons from local mafioso Javed Khan. Sheikh, he claimed, said the weapons were needed for the self-defence of Muslims) Investigators have also found records of dozens of calls she made to Sheikh from a public telephone centre, Tavakkal Communications, and most important of all, a diary with coded entries that match names listed in a register maintained by the Pune man. These code words, investigators believe, were used in communication with the terrorists through the Thuraya satellite phone they carried. The code names do not leave much doubt about who the members of the Lashkar cell believed were their enemies. Bajrang Dal leader Vinay Katiyar is referred to as `Kutta', or dog; fundamentalist demagogue Pravin Togadia as `Tingu', or dwarf. Narendra Modi is coded `Mubarak' (congratulations) - a reference to what would be passed on to his assassins.. This is the information that is in public domain.. Much more must be in files of intelligence bureau..
6. After knowing all these facts do you still think that she was innocent??? Even if we accept that this was a fake encounter, why is this case given so much importance?? We all know underworld in Mumbai was weakened by encounters ( mostly fake) We gave those encounter specialist’s hero’s status ( until they started fighting them self and few were chopped of for political reason). We make movies on life of those encounter specialist were people clap, when hero kills someone from underworld in fake encounter ( AB TAK CHAPPAN) . There have been allegations of fake encounter from all over the country.. Why all of them are not given same importance. IS THIS MODI EFFECT?? IS CONGRESS REALLY SUFFERING FROM MODI PHOBIA.. Here there is no doubt that she was member of LET (lashkar-e-taiba).. Now we all cheer for drone attacks in Afghanistan and tribal areas of Pakistan on members of Taliban and al- quida. But what is this drone attack.. You just kill someone who you think -after proper intelligence and analysis - is threat to you country or to mankind. Encounter (Fake or real) do the same.. They eliminate those who can be potential threat to the society. Ofcourse no one advocates that security officials go out and kill any one and every one they want.. But if an encounter is carried out after solid intelligence input and the threat is confirmed, should we cheer for the cps who did it or we should put them behind the bars.. Personally we should be thankful to the cops who did that.. After all the only terrorist who is good, is the one who is dead.. A DEAD TERRORIST IS A GOOD TERRORIST..

[Sachin]

The media reports which I read when mentioning that IB officials getting questioned by CBI had clearly stuck to their guns and did confirm that IB had got clear positive indication that this Pranesh Kumar Pillai (later converted to become Javed Shaikh) and Ishrat Jehan were planning some thing sinister. Yes, what might happen is a lot of agents and networks of IB getting exposed .

I am reminded of a proverb which talks about "burning down a house, in order to kill a rat". With UPA and its myopic vision, we may see the proverb in action.

[ramana]

Especially when there is no rat!

[Vipul]

'Third eye' to be installed at border posts.

To keep a watch on movement across the border at a longer distance, now border posts will be equipped with modern and high capacity Handheld Thermal Imager (HHTI).Preparations have been started in this regard. Experts from Turkish and Spanish companies on Friday gave a demonstration of their HHTIs before BSF senior officers.

The HHTI, also known as the third eye, is an equipment which allows keeping watch at a distance of 7-8km. It will help in monitoring the movements of Pakistani intruders and smugglers.At present, border posts have HHTIs of two companies Deharsi (Israel) and Kotal (Spain). Many countries have shown interest in providing HHTI with a higher range and better battery life.

Though the existing HHTIs from Israel and Spain are of good quality, but they are within a range of 1-2km and are unable to monitor all the intrusion and smuggling attempts, across the border. Thus, BSF has recommended the installation of the high capacity HHTI. Companies from four countries have requested for a trial of their HHTIs.

This team of experts gave its demonstration at Sonar Fort and border posts. Battery life, higher range and quality, along with connecting capacity of the equipment were checked.These new HHTIs can capture movement of humans, and cattle, as far as 7-8km, and can alert the security force via monitors.

[Neshant]

woah. Alarming if its true.

listen to this.

is there going to be a dirty bomb attack on India or something.

can't tell if the guy in the video is talking nonsense or if he's for real.

what do you think?

[svinayak]

woah. Alarming if its true.

listen to this.

is there going to be a dirty bomb attack on India or something.

can't tell if the guy in the video is talking nonsense or if he's for real.

what do you think?

Check the Pakistan strategy. They are trying to find out by all means all the sources of their demand

Is there a shortage of atomic materials in Pakistan or is it another way to floow Pakistan to find out all the grey markets for these materials.

[abhishek_sharma]

The Secret War: How General Keith Alexander, director of the NSA, became the most powerful intelligence officer in U.S. history.

[sum]

The depths to which INC is sinking is truely appalling:
Ministry to seek immunity for IB official

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) is likely to drag the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to the Supreme Court to stem the investigating agency from implicating one of its special directors in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

The agency may plead that it enjoys legal immunity against any prosecution being a covert organisation. The IB decided to take this extreme step after their director Asif Ibrahim had a series of meetings over the last few days with his senior officials and other top brass in the North Block and South Block, including Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Home Secretary R K Singh and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon.

On Thursday, Ibrahim again met with his senior colleagues and agreed to knock the doors of the apex court, having failed to convince the CBI officers that their Special Director Rajendra Kumar, during his previous stint as joint director in Ahmedabad, had merely shared an intelligence information with state police on a possible plot to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Mumbai college girl Ishrat Jahan, Pranesh Gopinath Pillai, Amjad Ali and Jishan Johar were killed by the Gujarat Police in an encounter on June 15, 2004. CBI investigators, said government sources, had gathered electronic evidence and witness statements to allegedly point out that Kumar was in regular touch with Gujarat Police officers in that year, including now absconding Additional Director General of Police P P Pandey, before and after the encounter.

The CBI officers charge that he went beyond merely passing on an input on an alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba module trying to bump off Modi that was also corroborated years later by Pakistani American terrorist David Headley.

Sources said the Union Ministry of Home Affairs is expected to file an affidavit on behalf of the IB, which doesn’t have a written existence, in the SC.

This is triggered after Kumar was summoned again by the CBI. The date is yet to be finalised. If the ministry approaches court to shield the IB, it would be an unparalleled exercise.

Going by their decision on Thursday not to share inputs with law enforcement agencies till the crisis is sorted out, the IB seems to have opted for an undeclared protest.

Agency officials believe that the CBI attempt to prosecute 1979-batch IPS officer Kumar in the encounter case has dangerous implications as it will expose them to endless litigation, especially in strife-torn states of Jammu and Kashmir and the North-Eastern region.

CBI sources, however, said that call data records of cell phones used by Kumar and other state police officers, like that of PP Pandey, clearly point out that they were in constant touch with one another. The investigating agency sleuths indicate that the probe is leading to a point where Kumar could be charged with being part of a criminal conspiracy to bump off Jahan and others in the encounter.

The IB, however, sees nothing unusual in their state intelligence set up interacting with police officers as both the organisations work together on internal security matters.

So as per INC logic, IB officer interacting with local police to conduct a operation is a conspiracy?

I shudder to think of how much damage to the intel apparatus the INC has caused in these 10 years since this case is the only one in public domain and there will be 1000s such in background

[shyamd]

Pure politics plain and simple. Last 3 IB chiefs were sweeping it under carpet and left it all on Current IB chief to deal with issue. So Current IB chief knocking on all doors to get this chap off the hook.

Headley in interrogation said Ishrat was involved with LeT. It was omitted in the report.

[abhishek_sharma]

Inside the NSA's Ultra-Secret China Hacking Group: Deep within the National Security Agency, an elite, rarely discussed team of hackers and spies is targeting America's enemies abroad.

[Aaryan]

Why is CBI asking IB to name its source in Ishrat case??? Clearly Sc is not interested in knowing if she was a terrorist or not.. The case is of criminal nature and SC wants to know if the encounter was real or fake.. What is CBI upto by trying to fix IB officials??

[Austin]

Reminds me of the CBI/IB war that happend in the 90's wrt to ISRO spy scandal , IB framed the poor guy a top LPSC engineer and CBI proved his innocence but in between the turf war the guys career and family got destroyed.

[vishvak]

Inside the NSA's Ultra-Secret China Hacking Group: Deep within the National Security Agency, an elite, rarely discussed team of hackers and spies is targeting America's enemies abroad.

This is exactly what NSA seems to be for, the reasons of terror etc are just a cover.

[vishvak]

alarmed at Uncle Sam snooping - link
"If India discovers its laws relating to private information of ordinary citizens have been violated, then it will be 'unacceptable'"

It is indeed strange that while Indians who make the largest democracy are target of NSA intelligence snooping, there does not seem to be a lot of data with intelligence community of USA about certain issues such as sexual abuse by US military personnel, etc. The US prez was appealing to 'individual' conscience about this, but somehow that is all a small part of massive overall propaganda and politics that also includes gay rights, selective 'conscience' by clergy as major part. The snooping tech hardly seem to have any information on this.

[suryag]

If we ever lose some data we can ask NSA to give that day's daily backup

[NRao]

Inside the NSA's Ultra-Secret China Hacking Group: Deep within the National Security Agency, an elite, rarely discussed team of hackers and spies is targeting America's enemies abroad.

This is exactly what NSA seems to be for, the reasons of terror etc are just a cover.

On BR's front page is an article about India also possessing snooping technologies. Recall various stories about convos between Paki Gens, etc. - way back from the Kargil era onwards?

Where do we think India got this technologies from? : )

Where is India getting technologies TODAY to look through vegetation to track Naxals? And where is India proposing to get technologies to identify IDEs buried 7 feet below ground?

Not the Soviets or Russia for sure.

BTW, India has ALSO stopped a ton of attacks on Indian soil. Because of "Intel". And the technology comes from .................?

Strange people.

[vishvak]

NRao ji, my understanding is that it is easy to use data from such a snooping program and judge others, but when it comes to issues domestic with politics involved the data from the same does not seem to be so effective, majorly because of politics within. It is obvious that USA will use data on its own servers as seems fit so there is no question about assuming anything outside USA. Example on sex abuse is also symbolic, and not detailed - which could range within and outside of USA too.

USA is not friendly towards India as per my understanding, and seems to be about maintaining disputes as a status quo in different ways - internal and external. Hardware coming from USA has as such no direct connection from this open-ended surveillance. The Headley episode puts a question mark too on how effective it was in days prior to 26/11 considering it is now coming out clearly that Headly was some paki LeT operative with clear cut information about that from various sources coming to USA.

So there are some loose ends in what is termed as primarily anti-terrorist open ended surveillance which does not seem to be effective for 26/11 even for one guy actually dealing with US spy agencies directly as an informer/drug-dealer while even when India is fifth largest target of snooping going on since when. Just trying to point out loose ends in narrative.

Also Chinese seem to have lot of data about snooping from USA but Chinese are not going to put details out to world i.e. since when this snooping is going on etc. We seem to have nothing to talk about here, other than requesting USA to promptly find out if personal information of Indian citizens are compromised which can be against Indian law. This after clearly Indians, just reminding here again that Indians form the largest democracy, are the fifth biggest target of the same.

[member_23360]

If we ever lose some data we can ask NSA to give that day's daily backup

[vasu raya]

New Delhi knew US snooped on India since 2005-06

The Indian security agencies knew that US National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance systems had been snooping, intercepting and reading emails and other supposedly secure cyber data on a regular basis since 2005-06 but could not take counter-measures due to lack of an alternative to systems like Gmail.


Interestingly, while PRISM is supposed to have started in 2007 under the Bush administration, the government’s PRISM data share had been around even earlier.

“While we did not know the name of the snoop operation (PRISM), we knew about NSA’s snooping on India since 2005-06 and that our content was being read,” a top official familiar with the developments told HT on condition of anonymity.

While countries across the globe have expressed shock at US’s intrusive activity, all this snooping on India was happening even as India and US were signing agreements elucidating ‘close’ cooperation in cyber security matters.

“US’s snooping effort came as a surprise and we kind of stumbled on to it while trying to detect something else, so we have known about it since a few years back,” said Rohit Srivastwa, information security community leader who supports and collaborates with the police on cyber crimes.

India has turned out to be the fifth most targeted country by the US, data revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden showed. Snowden was a contractor for the NSA.

“While China is usually being blamed for cyber attacks and snooping on its citizens, this is a fact of life in almost all countries across the globe. But what was striking about the PRISM operation was the expanse. Their activity was pan-globe, and therefore, huge data was being hacked into, intercepted and assessed,” the official said.

Asked why no steps were being taken to counter the US surveillance, the official said it was essentially a trade-off between using a free and stable e-mail and social media system and loss of a certain amount of privacy. “Where was the alternative? Are we capable of providing a robust mechanism such as Gmail that too for free?”

[shyamd]

India knows the US spy on gmail and all the others. Hell, important topics aren't even discussed on the telephone! See ECHELON its been around for decades and people are aware of it.

[sum]

^^ So ow do we communicate amongst each other , esp the sensitive orgs given that we dont use telephones( not sure how strong our encrypted systems are when Khan tries to break them) and dont use mails( since we dont have gmail equivalent)?

[Hiten]

My friend of 30 years and mentor, B Raman lost his battle with cancer a short while ago. Deeply mourned. I shall miss him dearly.

https://twitter.com/Vikram_Sood/status/ ... 6118984704
R.I.P.