Intelligence & National Security Discussion

[shyamd]

India's Best Kept Secret-The Official Secrets Act, the state's regressive omerta code, was never notified. It isn't actually a law

An "Invalid" Act?

Here's the untold story of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1923:

* It was passed in April 1923 by the Legislative Council.
* The Act was never notified in the Gazette of India.
* To become law, every Act must be notified in the Gazette of India. The National Archives of India, ministries of Home and Law say they are not in possession of any such notification. None exists in the 1923 Gazette of India either.
* The OSA was amended twice, in 1951 and 1967, and made more stringent. But only the amendments were notified in the 'Extraordinary Gazette of India'.
* Legal luminaries say that if an Act is not notified, it is an "invalid" law.

***
Why The British Wanted OSA In 1923

* Bolsheviks could fester unrest in India directly or indirectly
* They have "increased our troubles on the North West Frontier and Waziristan". This could "lead to a rupture with Afghanistan".
* Prominent "Mussalman" leaders have shown sympathy with the Afghans. Unwise to disregard possibility of "fanatical Muslims in India" acting in sympathy with them.
* Increased Japanese activity in Burma calls for better means for "obtaining information"
* Post- (First World) War enemy powers are out to ferret secrets
* In the event of a war between Japan and America, the former may try to arouse Indian feelings against the British Empire
* There are no existing laws to deal effectively with such activities

(From the note prepared by General C.W. Jacob, Chief of General Staff, in 1921. Document sourced from the National Archives of India, Delhi.)

***

"I checked all the dates from 1923 and no such notification for the OSA exists."
Maj Gen V.K. Singh Ex-Raw


"It’ll jeopardise any more future prosecutions under the OSA. Technically, it’ll all be invalid."
Hosbet Suresh, Ex-Judge, Bombay HC


"If it has not been notified, the very validity of the Act can be challenged in court."
Rajindar Sachar, Ex-CJ, Delhi HC


"After the RTI Act came into force, the OSA has no place... even its relics cannot remain."
Veerappa Moily, Congress pointsman


"The law was perpetuated by the bureaucracy, to insulate itself from public scrutiny."
Aruna Roy, Ex-NAC Member

***
In 2007, the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) headed by senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily finally decided to bite the bullet on the draconian Official Secrets Act (OSA). It put it on record that an Act "enacted in the colonial era" (1923) had no place in democratic India. The controversial piece of legislation had to either be amended or scrapped. But as is wont to happen, a committee of secretaries set up later by the upa government examined and rejected the Moily panel recommendation. The status now: a cabinet subcommittee is taking a second look at the suggestions put up by the ARC.

Meanwhile, research into the origins of the OSA has thrown up a shocker, putting a question mark on the very validity of the Act. Documents accessed under the RTI Act from the ministries of home affairs (MHA) and law and justice, as well as the National Archives of India (NAI), show the OSA was never notified in the Gazette of India—a mandatory requirement to make any Act a law.

Incredible as this may seem, the MHA, law ministry and NAI have stated in writing that they have no record of such a notification. While the two ministries have stated that they are not in possession of the notification number of the OSA, the National Archives, which maintains all records, has stated unequivocally that "the gazette notification of the OSA is not available with the library".

This startling revelation came after Major General V.K. Singh (retd)—author of India’s External Intelligence, the controversial book exposing corruption in raw—had a case slapped against him under the OSA last year. He was charged with making public what was alleged to be secret information in the form of documents pertaining to the functioning of the agency. Singh immediately filed several RTI applications with the MHA and the ministry of law and justice to try and track the origins of this colonial Act. Says Singh: "The reply from the MHA was very interesting. It stated that after going through their old files, records and libraries, they found that the Act was probably notified on April 2, 1923, and asked me to check with the national archives."

But Singh, who is a registered research scholar with NAI, was surprised to discover that no such notification exists in the Gazette of India of 1923. "I was shocked and therefore I immediately filed an RTI application with the national archives to confirm my findings. I thought, what if it was published somewhere else or in the extraordinary gazette?" he says.


Open lines The communiques from the ministries to Maj Gen Singh’s requests; Dr Meena Gautam’s reply from the NAI

The reply from Dr Meena Gautam, the chief public information officer, was categorical: "The gazette notification for OSA in 1923 is not available with the library." Neither does any notification on April 2, 1923, exist in the national archives nor does the OSA figure in the gazette of 1923 on any other date. "I checked all the dates from the year and no such notification exists. The reply from the national archives is self-explanatory," notes Singh.

This discovery puts a serious question mark over an Act that has drawn flak from rights activists as well as legal luminaries. Rajindar Sachar, ex-chief justice of the Delhi High Court, told Outlook, "If it has not been notified, the very validity of the Act can be challenged in court." Agrees Justice Hosbet Suresh, former judge of the Bombay HC: "If this is the case, then it could jeopardise any future prosecution under this Act. Technically, anything done under the Act therefore becomes invalid. And anyway, with the passage of the RTI Act, the OSA should have been abolished."

Post-Independence, the OSA has seen two major amendments. The first was in 1951 when it was amended to delete all references to Great Britain. In 1967, a second set of changes took place when it was turned into an even more severe law than the one laid down by the British. It was no longer incumbent upon the police or any investigating agency to "prove the guilt" of a person accused of spying. It was enough to judge his/her character and the circumstances of the case to be prosecuted and and awarded life imprisonment. Even here, crucially, only the amendments were notified, not the original Act!

So today, under the OSA the government can accuse anyone of spying and keep him in custody for months together. Little wonder then that the Act has been roundly criticised by advocates of the RTI Act. Former National Advisory Council member and Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy, an ardent advocate of measures to ensure transparency and accountability in governance, says the OSA is "an imperial act".The archaic law "has been perpetuated by the bureaucracy. It stems partly out of its need to insulate itself from public scrutiny".

"Every government has perpetuated it, purely out of self-interest. We need secrecy in government, but only for a few documents and that too in a time-bound sense. You cannot have an all-pervasive secrecy in perpetuity. This issue must be examined from the perspective of the people of India," she adds.

The OSA and its misuse is startling. Like the case of retired nuclear scientist Capt B.K. Subba Rao, who was picked up from Mumbai airport in 1988. He was charged with sharing the country’s nuclear secrets. When he was finally produced in court, all the prosecution had by way of evidence was his doctoral thesis. After 20 months of incarceration and five long years of litigation, Capt Rao was finally acquitted. But by then, his life was in a shambles. Arrests under the Act can be effected for even possessing the number of a foreigner. Innocuous documents from one’s office table can serve as evidence. One judge in Delhi found it strange that four persons arrested under the OSA from different locations as militants all possessed a map of Meerut Cantonment. They seemed to have been photocopied by the police!

In fact, while deliberating over the RTI Act, Parliament’s standing committee for law and justice passed adverse remarks against the OSA and its blatant misuse. "We pointed out that the Act has no place in a democracy. Only those agencies exempted under the RTI Act can be categorised as secret," Sudarshan Nacchiappan, chairman of the parliamentary committee, told Outlook. "However, it must be noted that if it’s a corruption or rights violation case, even the exempted agencies have to share information," he added.

Moily is unequivocal in his demand that the Act be repealed. As he puts it, "After the RTI Act came into force, the OSA has no place...even its relics may no longer remain." In fact, upset with the secretaries’ panel for rejecting his proposal, Moily says he will take up the matter with PM Manmohan Singh.

The colonial nature of the OSA can be gauged from documents accessed from the national archives. An April 30, 1921, opinion of the then chief of general staff, General C.W. Jacob, clearly states that the Act is essential to curb "Bolshevik activity" and the show of "open sympathy from prominent Muhammadan leaders" towards Afghans. Jacob’s note also lists the threats from the Japanese and other enemies "inimical to the British race" in India. This was the kind of rationale that gave birth to the OSA. As Aruna Roy says, "The OSA should have been scrapped in 1947 itself, when we gained Independence."

Senior advocate and constitutional expert Rajeev Dhawan, who has criticised the Act on several occasions, has written that the OSA of Great Britain (enacted in 1889) was "replicated in one day in India in 1923". Ironically, in Great Britain the Act has seen three revisions, the last time in 1989 after civil society groups raised a ruckus over its validity in a democracy.

Major General Singh’s research and efforts through the RTI Act has brought to light a significant flaw in an archaic law that has no place in this day and age. Will the cabinet subcommittee have the vision to consign it to the dustbin? As of now, its deliberations continue to be a state secret.

Britain's MI6 agents use fake phones to avoid Chinese spies

A COLD war mentality has gripped the Beijing Games with revelations Britain's Olympic officials are using throwaway phones to foil Chinese spies.
British Games officials have been told to leave their mobile phones at home and instead use pay-as-you-go handsets that should be thrown away when the Games are over.

Britain's MI6 has told Olympic administrators China has developed the capacity to eavesdrop on their mobile phone conversations while they are here.

Britain's MI6 intelligence agency has provided its Olympic administrators with a secret report into China's spying capabilities.

It has warned them the Chinese will go to extraordinary lengths to obtain information.

Channel 4 News reported Security Officials at MI6 told the British delegation the Chinese would as a matter of routine, bug phone conversations.

The revelations came in the wake of China's abrupt crackdown to Olympic media access.

Following worldwide uproar, China yesterday relaxed its stance, opening access to sites it had earlier banned access to including Amnesty International.

In a statement issued late last night, the IOC said that despite recent claims, it had never entered into a deal with Chinese authorities to censor the internet.


The IOC said it trusted the Games hosts to keep their promise to provide the "fullest access possible" during the event, including internet access.

"The issues were put on the table and the IOC requested that the Olympic Games hosts address them," the statement said.

"We understand that BOCOG will give details to the media very soon of how the matter has been addressed.

"We trust them to keep their promise."

Beijing Olympics spokesman Sun Weide yesterday said BOCOG would honour its bid promise to provide "sufficient and convenient" internet access.

But he would not say which internet sites had been allowed or outline those that would remain blocked.

"First of all the internet access in China is fully open and the organisers of the Olympic Games, we have been providing sufficient and convenient internet access," he told reporters.

British media said China had special listening stations established to tap into the frequency of mobile phone signals and eavedrop into conversations.

Once the call has been monitored, the unique number can be stored and tracked all over the world, meaning their phones would no longer be secure.

Members of the delegation are also being told not to have private conversations over the phone.
Security Protection International analyst Mike Moran said it would be "naive to suggest the Chinese will not be listening in.

"You have to assume there's going to be three people on the phone," he told England's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

[shyamd]

Another article against Chaturvedi. Looks like it is coming from within the establishment.
India's Spy Chief Directly Implicated in Sexual Harassment Charges
By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)

The tenure of India's chief spy has been anything but what the conduct of a director of the country's counter-intelligence agency should be -- discreet.

Indeed, Ashok Chaturvedi, who heads the Research and Analysis Wing, or as it is commonly called, RAW, has been under the spotlight for some time due to what insiders refer to as his inexperience and unforgiving faux pas, errors in judgment and pitiable analysis of the threat to the country's security.


But if that was not enough for RAW's chief to worry about, on top of all the accusation of mismanagement lobbed at him in the local press and far more damaging reports of incompetence leaked to the Middle East Times, Chaturvedi is now facing a new scandal, one involving possible accusations of sexual harassment.


The latest installment in what has all the makings of a Bollywood super production, Chaturvedi, say insiders to the Middle East Times, has been "relentless" in his "persecution of Nisha Bhatia," a female RAW officer who only a week ago tried to commit suicide outside the Prime Minister's Office.


Bhatia is reported to have attempted to kill herself following alleged efforts to have her dismissed from the service after she allegedly reported incidents of sexual harassment by colleagues.


But now Bhatia revealed that Chaturvedi might also be implicated in the scandal, saying that Chaturvedi may himself have demanded sexual favors from Bhatia.


Bhatia said she now intends to undertake legal action against RAW and Chaturvedi personally. She also filed a complaint with the Parliament Street Police Station officials regarding her harassment, who, under pressure from the RAW chief, are dragging their feet.


The scandal that snowballed into an embarrassing crisis for the Indian government has turned into a national affair, breathing new life into repeated calls for national security advisor, M.K. Narayanan, to fire Chaturvedi, a move that would almost automatically receive the backing of some cabinet members of the Congress-led coalition.


Though Chaturvedi's tenure ends next Jan. 31, there are calls for his immediate sacking.


But Narayanan, said a source familiar with the country's intelligence dossier, has played an interventionist role in intelligence matters, juggling RAW and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), India's domestic spy agency.


One name that keeps cropping up as a replacement for the unpopular Chaturvedi is Nachal Sandhu, an officer serving with the IB.


Sandhu is said to have a "distinguished record" and is an expert on Kashmir and the terrorist groups operating in that troubled region and across the border in neighboring Pakistan.


Sandhu has the advantage of coming from outside RAW and is therefore untainted by the series of scandals that have plagued the external spy agency. Contrary to RAW, the IB has remained away from the public eye and the criticism of the nation's leadership.


Delhi's police commissioner, Yudhvir Singh Dadwal, has been mentioned as another potential candidate to replace Chaturvedi. He holds an impressive service record despite having only held the post since 2007, and had served with RAW earlier in his career.


Chaturvedi stands accused by his many critics of having undone the accomplishments of his predecessors who had gained the respect of Western intelligence agencies and established cordial relations with them.


"That goodwill evaporated when Chaturvedi took over," a source who requested anonymity told the Middle East Times.


Now observers who have been following the RAW scandals fear that the fallout from the Bhatia sex scandal will open "a Pandora's box with new revelations of another senior RAW officer having harassed Bhatia," the source said.


As reported by the Middle East Times on Aug. 21, Bhatia rejected alleged repeated sexual advances from a senior colleague, Sunil Uke, a customs officer assigned to RAW.


In an effort to protect their chief, Chaturvedi's supporters inside the spy agency attempted to defame Bhatia's character by leaking information to the local media and certain branches of government of a previous scandal involving another senior RAW officer, Rana Banerjee, himself a potential replacement at the head of RAW.


Banerjee, is the longest serving Pakistan analyst and the number three in the organization. Sources told the Middle East Times that Banerjee, thought to be "somewhat of a maverick" is an analyst who has never run covert operations.


One source accused him of being "prone to drunken outbursts which have led to some embarrassing moments" at the India International Centre (IIC), a favorite watering hole for politicians, journalists and bureaucrats.(not hte first time I have heard this. Heard similar allegations of RBI governor.)


According to a source from the powerful IAS lobby, Banerjee is often seen at the IIC bar "loudly voicing his opinions on a variety of sensitive and classified issues."


"He [Banerjee] has been filling us in on all that's going on in RAW and his mistreatment. He is relying on us for direct support when Chaturvedi goes," the source said.


Ironically, Banerjee and Chaturvedi -- who sources say do not get along -- find themselves in a similar predicament with their careers threatened by the Bhatia affair; incidentally, the future of Sanjiv Tripathi, Chaturvedi's protégé, is also on the line.


One of the sources told the Middle East Times that Chaturvedi's dismissal is being delayed by his relative, B.K. Chaturvedi, the government's chief economic advisor.


"Despite his obvious limitations, Ashok Chaturvedi was elevated to head of RAW in large part because B.K. Chaturvedi was at the time the cabinet secretary and on the panel that selected the head of the external intelligence agency," another source told the Middle East Times.


However, B.K. Chaturvedi is also now in what one analyst termed "a spot of bother." As head of an influential three-member panel, he proposed a rise in oil and diesel prices to meet production costs, while aiming to gradually phase out subsidized domestic cooking gas to households.


These proposals, that were feared would hit the general public hard in the pocket, were vehemently rejected by the trade unions and oil marketing companies. Consequently the government shelved the recommendations, particularly in order to avoid them becoming a negative drag in the 2009 general elections.


The Congress-led government is now facing double trouble with two Chaturvedis.


From his office on the 11th floor of RAW's headquarters, Ashok Chaturvedi has been accused of having pursued "an aggressive, hostile and petty campaign in going after perceived rivals."


But his undoing may in the end come from an unexpected source; a scorned woman who is set to expose many indiscretions that could force him to vacate the 11th floor sooner than he anticipated.

RAW woman’s new charges

By Priyanka Rai

New Delhi

Aug. 25: Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Ashok Chaturvedi wanted sexual favours, accused RAW officer Nisha Bhatia on being asked why she thinks she is being harassed by the chief. Ms Bhatia is now taking this matter to the court by end of this week.

Ms Bhatia said, when she was the head of the training institute in Gurgaon in the year 2005, Mr Chaturvedi took over charge as special secretary of training.

On a couple of occasions, he made vulgar comments and discreetly sought sexual favours.

She alleged that "Ashok Chaturvedi has a vindictive streak and had spoilt my ACR (annual confidential report) for the period 2005-06."

After he assumed charge as the new RAW chief, when she went to pay him a courtesy call as head of the training institute, he told her "Kya career, bachche, posting lagaye rakhti ho har waqt. Kyon itni fikr karti rahti ho. Tum jawan ho, khoobsoorat ho, tumhare chehre par kitna glow rahta hai. Akeli ho, mazey karo. Apne liye ek achha sa aadmi dhoondh lo... kisi ko bhi pasand kar lo. Itne hain, aur usse kaho tumhein khush rakhega."

Ms Bhatia told this newspaper that she was forced to take this step when things crossed all limits. In August 2007, when the then joint secretary Sunil Uke "offered me Rs 30,000, to spend a night with him at a hotel".

When she approached Mr Chaturvedi with a complaint against Mr Uke, he refused to entertain her complaint and said, "I don’t wish to be disturbed".

"What I have disclosed is just a drop in the ocean. A lot more is happening," she said adding that she is being projected as mentally unstable by the RAW authorities.

[Venkarl]

The more I hear/read anti-Ashok Chaturvedi stuff, stronger I feel that things are being staged or setup against RAW chief...who knows??

why no one talks about IB? Is it because of its obedience and protecting the ruling party??

again....I might completely be wrong to the roots...

[shyamd]

As of July 30th. CIA for the first time in 60 years is no longer calls the shots and is no longer reigning supreme. Bush signed a major overhaul of the intelligence business benefitting the Director of National Intelligence. It is now the office of DNI that will maintain and make agreements with foreign intel agencies. The DNI can now also call for the resignation of CIA director. They are responsible for recruiting foreign intel agents in the US and abroad. Office of DNI can force the agency to work with other agencies and even cancel assignments that would normally fall to the CIA if it considers another agency is better at the job.

[sum]

The more I hear/read anti-Ashok Chaturvedi stuff, stronger I feel that things are being staged or setup against RAW chief...who knows??

There seems to be no doubt in it...
A article or two is fine, but a ton of articles(each surpassing the other in name calling and crassness) sure raises eyebrows...

[Rahul M]

the more intriguing nugget in all this is how the ME times has such an interest in R&AW and is always the first one to file reports against chaturvedi. have noticed this from the colombo affair.

[Philip]

This is a quote from a person in the know of things.

"Chaturvedi is the worst head that the RAW has ever had. He has sidelined most of the competent officers and brought to the fore those with pitiable records! He should have been booted out if the Government had anything resembling balls and concern for the country's security."

[Anshul]

Philip Sir,

I assume POSH or prevention of sexual harrasment isn't a priority at RAW.But the RAW guys having to resort to SH with their own is a little disconcerting.If our intel chief is so susceptible to female charms....i wonder how many secrets were lost when he was a field operative.These IPS types sound so sleazy,

[sum]

Shyamd,
Does the RAW deploy any Indian made/designed intel equipment for its ops and the sort of equipment if it does?

Am assuming that the DRDO will be in charge of such equipment design since RAW doesnt seem to have any R&D(its "scientific/technical wing" seems to be for the upkeep and evaluation of equipment only) unit unlike the MI-5(mentioned in Peter Wright's book) or the CIA...
Which lab of DRDO churns out these equipment(if they do exist)? CAIR?

[Rahul M]

sum, I don't know what they use now but they used soviet systems extensively in the 80's.

[shyamd]

Sum, Saying that they completely do not use Indian made/designed eqpt would be a lie, but the majority of the eqpt is foreign. Especially the crucial eqpt such as intercepts are done through foreign eqpt. Codebreakers that are in use are foreign I think aswell.

As far as I am aware there is no indigenous drive in these crucial technologies. I have been repeatedly saying that there needs to be an indigenous drive in these crucial technologies.

Naxals go hi-tech with Thuraya

NEW DELHI: After Ulfa and the militants in Kashmir, now naxalites are using Thuraya satellite phones.

The matter came to light after the research and analysis wing (Raw), India’s external intelligence agency, intercepted communication between naxals in different parts of the country.

Terrorists in Kashmir and the Northeast using Thuraya phones for strategic communication is a known fact, but naxals taking to the technology is new.

Raw also found that the location of these satellite phones changes constantly within a particular area of operation as the facility is mostly used by top naxal commanders who keep changing their hideouts for fear of being caught.

Thuraya is a UAE-based firm that provides satellite telephony in most parts of the world. Indian intelligence agencies have traditionally found it very tough to intercept satellite phones, making them the choice of militants in Kashmir. In recent times, however, the agencies, including Raw, have acquired the technology to track them.

Whatever success the agencies have had against Thuraya has been after 2007, when Raw acquired the system to intercept the phones and immediately found out that over 100 such phones were active in India, mostly in Kashmir and other border areas. Then, the second major concentration of satellite phones was in the border areas of the Northeast, where they were being extensively used by Ulfa.

Refusing to divulge the exact number of satellite phones in the possession of naxals, a senior government official privy to the interceptions said, “The presence of satellite phones shows that naxals are increasing becoming technologically equipped.”

Naxalites active in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Maharashtra and Karnataka getting access to satellite telephony has set alarm bells ringing among intelligence agencies.

The relief is the phones being used in India are old models and the agencies are working overtime to trace their origins.

Raw has also found that satellite phones are being increasingly used around the line of control in Kashmir and also in northeastern states.

Acquiring this technology has led to a lot of successful arrests/encounters and disruption of terrorist activity in the valley.

[Venkarl]

Did you know: Huawei and Thuraya have partnered for developing Sat communication equipment. RAW was unhappy about Huawei's center in B'lore involvement for developing similar equipment for Taliban.

[sum]

That is with with the left out of the govt now, the GoI is tightening the screws around Huawei as was reported by newspapers a few days ago....

[ASPuar]

All well and good, but do the governments footmen have to go about blathering about everything? Its a known fact that if the Naxals/JIhadis/ULFA know about thier communications being compromised, theyll be much more circumspect when they use these phones.

Wouldnt they have got much better info for free if they could have managed to keep their mouths shut?

[Philip]

Hat's off ,or should we say "pants down" to this historic British author cum "cocksman"!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... h-spy.html

Roald Dahl's seductive work as a British spy

Roald Dahl, known as one of the world's favourite children's authors, was involved in numerous sexual liaisons as a British spy in America, according to a new biography.

By Chris Irvine

Roald Dahl, here pictured in 1988, was quite a ladies' man in his young days Photo: CLARE ARRON A portrait of Dahl's Second World War years as an undercover agent attached to the British Embassy in Washington is painted in The Irregulars, published in Britain on September 9.

Roald Dahl: Young tales of the unexpected

Drawing on previously unpublished letters and other documents, American journalist Jennet Conant has written about Dahl's numerous sexual conquests.

They include Millicent Rogers, the heiress to a Standard Oil fortune, and Clare Boothe Luce, a right-wing congresswoman and the wife of the publisher of Time magazine.

Boothe Luce proved so frisky, Dahl later claimed to have begged his superiors to take him off the assignment, only to be told to get back into the bedroom.

Conant writes: "Dahl's superiors watched his rake's progress with grudging admiration.

"A certain amount of hank-panky was condoned, especially when it was for a good cause."

Dahl was moved to Washington in 1942 after being declared unfit to fly after a successful RAF career.

He struck up a friendship with Charles Marsh, a self-made Texan newspaper magnate who was a fan of Winston Churchill and an ally in recruiting American support for Britain against Hitler.

With Marsh's help, Dahl became close to prominent American journalists and senior US officials, including Henry Wallace, the vice-president.

His social skills attracted the attention of famous Canadian spymaster William Stephenson, who was running a clandestine British effort to draw America into the war.

Antoinette Marsh Haskell, the daughter of Marsh, explained that with Dahl's status came a string of women.

She said: "Girls just fell at Roald's feet.

"I think he slept with everybody on the east and west coasts that [was worth] more than $50,000 a year."

Despite Dahl's reputation as "one of the biggest cocksmen in America", as described by previous biography, he was said to have passed on several useful pieces of intelligence, including his belief that President Franklin D Rooseveldt was having an affair with Crown Princess Martha of Norway, who had been granted asylum by the US.

[RajeshA]

Scramjet Technology in US ( & China)

The Hypersonic Age is Near: POPSCI.COM

Last July (07.07), engineers from China showed up at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Joint Propulsion Conference in Cincinnati and revealed a growing scramjet research program of their own, including a new hypersonic wind tunnel in Beijing and work on rocket-powered combined-cycle scramjets. None of the American scramjet experts we talked to would discuss their reactions to the Chinese revelations. But Craig Covault, an editor at Aviation Week & Space Technology who reported on the conference, believes one of the main reasons the Chinese attended was to glean all available intel on Western scramjet research. "I would bet that they have a serious research program under way that has a lot more going on than just the few papers that they issued at this forum," Covault says. "The reason that they issued them was just kind of a message to the rest of the world that they are engaged in these high-tech things. It also allowed them to get the 500 or more other papers in propulsion technology of all kinds delivered at the conference."

[Katare]

BS by AW&ST

All the papers presented at conference becomes public knowledge avilable to all by mail or through internet, you don't have to present a paper to attend a conference.

[VinodTK]

Maoists back J&K azadi

New Delhi, Sept. 1: In a significant move, which could have serious consequences, the dreaded and banned outfit, CPI(Maoists) has decided to join the ongoing violent agitation for “Azad Kashmir.” In a document released by the CPI(Maoist) on Monday, the outfit exhorted its fighters from, People Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) to move towards the valley to join the “movement.” The Maoists feel that with the agitation taking an anti-national stance, the time was ripe for their guerrillas to move in.

The document, in possession of this newspaper, states: “The Central Committee of the CPI(Maoist) calls upon its party members and the PLGA fighters to mobilise in support of the Kashmiri people’s struggle for “azadi (freedom.)” It can be mentioned that the Maoists, virtually controlling the remote areas in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa have been looking for an opportunity to make in roads into the other parts of the country. The Maoists (being called Naxalites) had also moved into Nandigram and extended support to the violent agitation, which was spearheaded by the Trinamul Congress leader, Ms Mamata Banerjee.

The Maoists, who had been extending “support” to all the separatist movements in northeast, tried to sound different in Kashmir. The document released by the Maoists read: “The people of Kashmir should come up with the slogan: “Neither India nor Pakistan, but a sovereign independent Kashmir.” Sources disclosed that the slogan was merely an “ideological stance”, while the main motive was to make inroads into the valley.

[sum]

In a document released by the CPI(Maoist) on Monday, the outfit exhorted its fighters from, People Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) to move towards the valley to join the “movement.” The Maoists feel that with the agitation taking an anti-national stance, the time was ripe for their guerrillas to move in.

Holy #@$**

[Anshul]

AS Puar Sir,

Please help me get access to the ad in Hindustan Times Delhi Edition for "Research Officers in Cabinet Sectt".My call to the HT office in Delhi and trips to the local paper wallah hasn't yielded any juice.Rather an open request to everybody to help me get some details on this Ad.

[merlin]

Wouldnt they have got much better info for free if they could have managed to keep their mouths shut?

Or maybe they can't actually intercept them but want to let the world know that they can?

[Rahul M]

anshul, plz check PM.

[Philip]

Russian defector Yuri Nosenko who died recently,was one of the most controversial defectors ever,with intense speculation whether he was a Russian plant or a genuine defector that lasted almost until his death.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituar ... senko.html

Yuri Nosenko
KGB intelligence officer whose sudden defection to the West was initially viewed with suspicion

Yuri Nosenko defected to the West at the height of the Cold War Yuri Nosenko, who died on August 23 aged 80, was a KGB intelligence officer who defected to the West at the height of the Cold War; after initial doubts about his authenticity, the CIA came to consider him one of its most valuable, if troublesome, defectors.

Codenamed "Foxtrot" by the CIA, Nosenko was a KGB Second Chief Directorate (SCD) officer when he approached the CIA in Geneva in June 1962. He was in Switzerland as a member of the Soviet Union's disarmament delegation.

Nosenko offered to provide the Americans with information, saying that he hoped to defect some time in the future, and that he wished to acquire medication for his asthmatic daughter, Oksana; but his principal objective was to replace funds which he had misappropriated from the local rezidentura which he had then blown in a local nightclub.

Nosenko – the son of one of Stalin's ministers – was persuaded to continue working in the KGB, but in the meantime he made some significant disclosures. He revealed that the SCD had compromised a British official who had been caught in a honeytrap in Moscow while employed at the British embassy, and MI5 soon identified the suspect as an Admiralty clerk, John Vassall.

He also named the Canadian ambassador, John Watkins, as having been compromised in the same way, as well as a CIA officer, Edward Ellis Smith. All three allegations proved accurate. Nosenko added that he had heard that MI5 had been penetrated by the KGB at a high level.

After these initial contacts, Nosenko returned to Moscow, but he unexpectedly defected in Geneva during a second visit, in February 1964, having claimed to have reviewed the KGB file on President Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

The CIA's Counterintelligence Staff, however, spotted a number of significant contradictions in Nosenko's debriefings, including details of his career and even his rank, and became convinced that he was a "dispatched defector".

The issues at stake were considerable, because if Nosenko were a plant his insistence that the KGB had played no part in the assassination of President Kennedy could be considered equally bogus.

Another KGB defector, Anatoly Golitsyn, who had defected in 1961, had warned that the organisation would very likely seek to discredit him by sending to the West others armed with ingeniously-constructed cover stories to mislead Western intelligence agencies. Some professionals came to believe that Nosenko was one of these.

Accordingly, from April 1964 Nosenko was detained at a safe house in Maryland for nearly 18 months, on the authority of the US attorney-general, before being transferred to a cell-block specially constructed at the CIA's training facility at Camp Peary, in Virginia. He remained there, under continuous and hostile interrogation, until October 1967.

A year later a report sponsored by the CIA's Office of Security concluded that Nosenko was a genuine defector, and he was given an apology for his treatment, $137,062 in compensation and a contract as a consultant.

The controversy over Nosenko's bona fides was to continue for years, and had the effect of splitting the American counter-intelligence community. The central issue was the concept of the "dispatched defector": the idea that a professional intelligence agency would risk sending a well-informed staff officer directly and deliberately into the hands of an adversary.

On the one hand, the Counterintelligence Staff, led by James Angleton, found it impossible to reconcile the many inconsistencies in the defector's story; they pointed out that Nosenko's family was part of Moscow's elite and that he was therefore an improbable traitor. Furthermore, Nosenko's claim that he had had access to Oswald's file, a claim made just as the Warren Commission was investigating the background of the assassination, seemed a little too convenient – especially as Nosenko's essential message was that the KGB had been innocent of any plot.

The case against Nosenko was made in Spy Wars: Moles, Mysteries and Deadly Games (2007), a book by Pete Bagley, a CIA officer stationed in Switzerland in the early 1960s who initially handled Nosenko's case.

The opposing view suggested that Nosenko was a hard-drinking womaniser who had found himself in financial difficulty in Geneva and, in turning to the CIA for help, had exaggerated his own status.

Yuri Ivanovich Nosenko was born on October 30 1927 at Nikolaev, in the Ukraine, the son of Ivan Nosenko, who was minister for shipbuilding in the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1956, the year of his death; he was buried with honours in the Kremlin wall. Yuri was a student at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and joined the KGB in 1953.

Once he had been brought over to the United States, Nosenko proved difficult to handle, often becoming involved in bar brawls and embarrassing episodes with women. He never complained, however, about the harsh treatment he had received, once remarking: "While I regret my three years of incarceration, I have no bitterness and now understand how it could happen."

Nosenko's case epitomised the "wilderness of mirrors" in the counter-intelligence community, and his illegal incarceration became one of the notorious "family jewels", the list of the CIA's breaches of its 1947 charter which led to the Pike and Church congressional investigations conducted in 1974.

Until two years ago he continued to visit the CIA headquarters to give presentations. By contrast, those who had opposed his rehabilitation were shunned and their arguments dismissed as manifestations of the paranoia often associated with lengthy, labyrinthine counter-intelligence investigations.

A month ago the CIA delivered to his house in the United States a ceremonial flag and a letter of thanks from the agency's director, Michael Hayden.

[ASPuar]

Wouldnt they have got much better info for free if they could have managed to keep their mouths shut?

Or maybe they can't actually intercept them but want to let the world know that they can?

Hmmm... Thus sowing suspicion and worry, and leading to a restriction in the use of the widget in question by antinationals? Holy satphones, batman!

[Philip]

The Moles Within
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fo ... aman&sid=1

So why did top US and Pakistani army commanders have a secret meeting on board an American aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean? What could they have been discussing?

B. Raman
The New York Times reported as follows on August 28, 2008:

"Top US and Pakistani army commanders had a highly unusual secret meeting on board an American aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean to discuss how to combat the escalating violence along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The leading actors in the day long conference were Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. The meeting had been convened on Tuesday (August 26) by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. While officials of the two allies offered few details on Wednesday about what was decided or even discussed at the meeting - including any new strategies, tactics, weapons or troop deployment- the star-studded list of participants and an extreme secrecy surrounding the talks underscored how gravely the two nations regarded the growing militant threat.".

The top secrecy surrounding the talks between Admiral Mullen and Gen.Kayani brings to mind a similar top secret meeting between Gen.Jehangir Karamat, the then Pakistani Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), and Gen.Anthony Zinni, the then chief of the US Central Command, on the tarmac of a Pakistani airport before the US launched Cruise missile strikes against Osama bin Laden and the training camps of Al Qaeda in Afghan territory in August,1998, in retaliation for the Al Qaeda-organised explosions outside the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.

The US had fixed the Cruise missile strikes on a day (August 20,1998) when bin Laden was expected to visit a training camp to meet a group of Al Qaeda volunteers, who had completed the training. Nawaz Sharif was then the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The US did not want his Government to know in advance about the planned Cruise missile attacks lest the information leak to Al Qaeda. At the same time, it was worried that if the Pakistani Army detected the incoming Cruise missiles, it might mistake them for missiles launched by India and this could lead to a war between India and Pakistan.

Just before the launch of the missiles, Gen.Zinni landed in a Pakistani airport secretly. Only Karamat was informed in advance about his landing. Zinni had requested him to meet him secretly for a discussion on the tarmac of the airport. He also asked Karamat to come alone to the airport without being accompanied by any of his officers. As the two took a stroll on the tarmac, Zinni told Karamat about the impending missile strikes and asked him not to tell Nawaz or anybody else about the strikes. Immediately thereafter, Zinni took off. Shortly thereafter, the missiles were launched from US naval ships.

The missiles destroyed only some training camps of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) of Pakistan in Afghan territory. Al Qaeda camps had been evacuated from the area targeted by the Cruise missiles. Bin Laden had cancelled his visit to one of the camps. He and his camps escaped the strike.

Till today, it has been a mystery as to how bin Laden and his Al Qaeda came to know of the date and time of the strike. Did they get their information from their own sources? Or did Karamat inform his officers and Nawaz in violation of the assurance given by him to Zinni and did any of them leak out? No answer is available to any of these questions.

Recently, US military officers have been complaining in their testimonies to the Congressional committees as well as in their briefings of the media that the collusion between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Taliban has reached such an extent that the Taliban and Al Qaeda had come to know in advance in some cases about planned strikes by US Predator aircraft on the hide-outs of these organizations in Pakistan.While some Predator strikes were successful, many others were not.

It is learnt from reliable Afghan sources that the NATO officials based in Afghanistan suspect that the leakages had been taking place not only from the ISI and some sections of the Pakistan Army, but also from some members of the Pakistan Government headed by Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani. The US suspicions are particularly focussed on the Awami National Party of Afsandyar Wali Khan, and the Jamiat-ul-Islam Pakistan of Maulana Fazlur Rahman It is understood that this matter of leakages of information was raised by President George Bush with Gilani when the latter visited Washington DC in the last week of July,2008.

It is likely that one of the purposes of the top secret meeting between Mullen and Kayani on board a US aircraft-carrier was to discuss how to prevent such leakages.

B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai.


http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fo ... F%29&sid=1

Plus,the "Hawk" on the "King's" shoulder.
Last week's crackdown in the Valley was the NSA's idea. And a bad one.

Last week's crackdown in the Valley was the NSA's idea. And a bad one.

[sum]

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fo ... F%29&sid=1

Plus,the "Hawk" on the "King's" shoulder.
Last week's crackdown in the Valley was the NSA's idea. And a bad one.

Last week's crackdown in the Valley was the NSA's idea. And a bad one.

From the article:

As an exercise in crowd control, the crackdown has been a success. Far fewer people were killed than had been feared—only eight in all—although hundreds were injured. But it is difficult to divine what the government hopes to gain. Will it douse the anger that people are feeling? Will the people go quietly back to a normal life when it is lifted? Or will the curfew only bottle up anger and turn Kashmir into a pressure cooker, bringing ever larger numbers out on the streets when it is lifted?

what does the moron/WKK suggest should have been done?

The anger in the Valley mounted as the season's pear crop ripened and began to rot, coal ceased to arrive, petrol became scarce, and the cement plants had to shut down. Milk powder, medicines and newsprint began to be hoarded.

The establishment of an air bridge between Srinagar and Chandigarh for perishable fruit and essential supplies, and an announcement that henceforth the army would protect convoys of trucks plying to and from the Valley would have destroyed the very basis of the anger, and sent Kashmiris the powerful message that the Centre doesn't only coerce, it also protects.

Yeah,right....expect the GoI to keep bending backwards for every whim and fancy of the turds, however unreasonable!!!

But that was the lesser part of the reason for their anger and sudden unity. The greater part was the openly communal agitation in Jammu. From the very first day, the Samiti demanded not the unrestricted use of land to cater to the needs of the pilgrims but its permanent transfer to the shrine board. The coercive nature of this demand was apparent.

its use of every symbol of a new fascist version of Hinduism, from swords and trishuls to saffron flags, along with the tricolour national flag, that finally convinced the Kashmiris that 'Hindu India' had declared economic war on the Muslims of Kashmir.

The Kashmiri agitation was a model of secularism while an all-religion pro-region protest was openly communal and got the overfed KMs angry!!!
Wonder what Mr.Jha was smoking when he wrote this piece of %#^#?

Had Narayanan and his cohorts had a slightly open mind, they would have seen that the restraint exercised by the state government on August 16/18 had already tilted the balance of power within the coordination committee decisively back in favour of the moderates.

Sure, keep banking on the "moderates"!!! They are very pro-India,right?

As the realisation sank into them that the armed police would not open fire when provoked, gangs of lumpen youth, born and brought up during the insurgency and filled with hate for India, took to teasing, insulting and, on occasion, physically molesting the jawans.They yelled derisive anti-India slogans and put up Pakistani flags. My conversations with senior officials suggest the flags were the last straw. The Indian state was finally provoked and the only policy that could have brought Kashmir back on an even keel was abandoned in favour of naked force.

I really slaute the discipline of our jawans.....Wis even Jaha had gone and stood there for some time before passing comments.
Thankfully, there are sane babus in the GoI security apparatus who had enough of the nonsense....

But one firm commitment, given personally to the Kashmiris by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, could still make the difference between peace and war in Kashmir. This is that India will decisively break the economic blockade of Kashmir using army convoys and an air bridge from Chandigarh; greatly hasten the opening of all the agreed border points between the Valley and PoK, if Pakistan cooperates; and invite the members of the coordination committee to participate in determining the future of Kashmir with him and Vohra as soon as normalcy returns to the entire state.

Keep dreaming that the KMs will come around to their senses...

[abhischekcc]

Hi ASPuar,
If you have the details for the RAW job, can you please mail them to me at bushlovesosama attherate gmail dotcom.

Thanks in advance

[ramana]

It was Gen Ralston and not Gen. Zinni.

[ramana]

From Satya's post above

That began to change in Iraq, where a lot of the debriefing got automated, and even the smallest infantry patrol, could easily report their findings electronically. By capturing the data electronically at the lowest level, and building database tools to handle it, information did not expire (as battlefield information tends to quickly do).
With lots more fresh battlefield data available, it was now possible to do things that, only a few years earlier, were believed the province of much larger, and better funded, organizations. For example, there is data fusion. This is collecting intelligence from many sources, and sorting through it for useful patterns and items that, in seen in the right context, are very valuable. The first of these fusion centers were set up at the national level two decades ago. But during the course of the Iraq war, the concept moved down the food chain. Cheaper, and more powerful, computer hardware was able to use analysis software to speed the fusion process, even in the hands of a relatively inexperienced operator. (MAACs in Indian Context )
Some of the most effective intelligence tools used in combat today, data mining and predictive analysis, were invented a century ago along with the development of junk mail. Who knew? For decades, the statistical tools used to determine who to send junk mail to (so the sender would make a profit) were not much use to the military. Then came cheaper, and more powerful computers, and the development of data mining and analysis tools. This made a big difference, because the more data you have to work with, the easier it is to predict things. This has been known for centuries.
Now, with thousand dollar laptop computers equipped with hundred gigabyte (or more) hard drives, you can put large amounts of data in one place, do the calculations, and make accurate predictions. This wasn't possible thirty years ago, when a 75 megabyte hard drive cost $45,000, and the computer doing the calculations cost even more than that. You also didn't have digital photography (more data you can store for analysis), or a lot of data, in general, stored electronically. It's all different today. That hundred gigabyte hard drive (holding over a thousand times more data than the $45,000 one of yore) costs less than a hundred bucks.

In the last few years, intel analysts have realized how powerful their tools are. And for those who studied math, statistics or business in college, they know the power of data mining, because it has become a very popular business tool. In places like Iraq and Afghanistan, lots of data is being collected all the time. It was data mining that led to the capture of Saddam, and the death of Zarqawi. Actually, over a hundred senior (team leader and up) al Qaeda terrorists have been killed or captured in Iraq using these techniques.
Data mining is basically simple in concept. In any large body of data, you will find patterns. Even if the bad guys are trying to avoid establishing a pattern to their actions, they will anyway. It's human nature, and only the most attentive pros can avoid this trap. Some trends are more reliable than others, but any trend at all can be useful in combat. The predictive analysis carried out with data mining and other analytic tools has saved the lives of hundreds of U.S. troops, by giving them warning of where roadside bombs and ambushes are likely to be, or where the bad guys are hiding out. Similarly, when data was taken off the site of the Zarqawi bombing, it often consisted only of names, addresses and other tidbits. But with the vast databases of names, addresses and such already available, typing in each item began to generate additional information, within minutes. That's why, within hours, the trove of data generated dozens of raids, and even more leads.
Speed has always been an advantage in combat, but, until recently, rarely something intelligence analysis was noted for. No longer. Predictive analysis is something the troops depend on, not only to tips on what to avoid, but for names and places to go after.

I think the Indian police should also go in for massive computerization. There are so many sundry leads and a variety of spellings and Abu this and Abu that, it becomes difficult to keep track of these folks.

The good thing is MKN is supposed to have introduced computers while he was IB chief per MK Dhar. Maybe he can do the same now at field level and have them send in the reports to the local data centers.

How does this data fusion/data mining work? Are there public domain software to do similar things for business intelligence and knowledge management?

[svinayak]

I think the Indian police should also go in for massive computerization. There are so many sundry leads and a variety of spellings and Abu this and Abu that, it becomes difficult to keep track of these folks.

The good thing is MKN is supposed to have introduced computers while he was IB chief per MK Dhar. Maybe he can do the same now at field level and have them send in the reports to the local data centers.
n

How does this data fusion/data mining work? Are there public domain software to do similar things for business intelligence and knowledge management?

This kind of system need fool proof security since this data can be leaked/stolen and critical time based info can reach the enemy. Keeping this kind of information from the public space keep the nation secure

[Philip]

Read the true story of how German spies offiicialy helped the US secretly in the Iraq war,while its Chancellor bullshitt*d to the world that it was against the war.This might spell doom for its next pretender to the Chancellor's throne,Herr Frank-Walter Steinmeier .

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 727437.ece

[Austin]

The opposition to War in Iraq or some where else is political and certain steps like non deployment of large conventional forces for war , but Intel people always help specially these are NATO countries , they have such tacit understanding, its not surprising at all.

[Philip]

Austin,the report indicates that the orders came from above,the political leadership,who were fooling the public.The opposition leader Herr Steinmeir,who has high hopes of becoming Chancellor,is now in the sh*t house.

[ramana]

Article in Pioneer, 11 Sept 2008

Chinese handsets ring alarm bells in security agencies

Rakesh K Singh | New Delhi


The nation's security agencies are concerned over Chinese mobile phone handsets flooding the market. The issue is likely to be taken up at a two-day conference on terrorism, convened by the Intelligence Bureau, on Monday.

Agency director PC Haldar would chair the conference, which would be attended by top cops of the country, to discuss ways and means for choking terror funding, besides devising institutional responses to the growing technological sophistication of terrorist outfits. The Chinese handsets do not have any IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number and cannot be traced if terror groups choose to use them for communication and execution of their nefarious designs.

The issue also figured at a high-level meeting of the Union Home Ministry, which was chaired by Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta on August 8, in the wake of back-to-back serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad in July. The directors-general of police (DGPs) and the chief secretaries of States and Union Territories also expressed concern over the sale of Chinese handsets and the security implications related to it.

The handsets are issued in bulk by Chinese mobile phone companies in lots of 100, 1,000 and 5,000 with a common IMEI number, which makes it difficult for security agencies to track actual calls made from any of these phones. The agencies suspect that terrorist groups might use such handsets to evade detection, said a senior official who attended the August 8 meeting.

The common IMEI number for a bulk of the handsets entering the market makes it difficult for security and intelligence agencies to trace the individual mobile phone from which the calls are made. The IMEI is a unique 17-or 15-digit code used to identify an individual mobile station to a GSM or any other network.

The code is important as it uniquely identifies a specific mobile phone being used on a mobile network. The IMEI is a useful tool in preventing a stolen handset from accessing a network. Mobile phone owners whose sets are stolen, can contact their service provider and ask it to disable a phone using the IMEI number. With an IMEI number, the phone can be blocked from the network quickly and easily.

"If a call is made from a mobile phone handset issued in a lot of 5,000, it will make the task of tracing the caller very difficult," said a senior intelligence officer. The problem is compounded by the fact that most of cellular phone sets are sold by unregistered sellers, he added.

The Union Home Ministry has in the past blocked the foray of a major Chinese telecom equipment supplier, Huawei, into the ports sector owing to security implications. The National Technical Research Organisation suspects that the controversial Chinese equipment company is tracking the telephones and e-mail addresses of senior officials of the armed forces, top bureaucrats and industry captains. Following the NTRO inputs, a joint intelligence committee meeting last year had labeled the company as a security threat, a senior Union Home Ministry official said.

Gurgaon-based Huawei officials confirmed that intelligence sleuths had been visiting the company's research and development centre in Bangalore and its order book from the public sector telecom majors had been shrinking due the development.

However, the company officials formally maintained that the company was a legal corporate and such "allegations" were unfounded.

While there is a potential issue the important thing is there is mtg to discuss the problems facing the police in all the states. Hope its a regular mtg to co-ordinate the response.

Looks like they have to ban the phones and ensure that sellers/resellers are registered and there is swift and heavy penalty for selling phonse without authorization.

[putnanja]

‘Spy’ who got caught - Intelligence official in Sahmat net

‘Spy’ who got caught
- Intelligence official in Sahmat net
ANANYA SENGUPTA

New Delhi, Sept. 12: A “spy” sat staring at his polished shoes locked up in the small office of cultural group Sahmat for almost an hour today, after hamhanded snooping blew his cover and gave a telling insight into the working of the Intelligence Bureau.

“I am an FCRA (foreign contribution regulation) official and am here on official duty,” Praveen Sharma (name changed) insisted, fidgeting with his phone.

But Rajendra Prasad, the Sahmat member he had first approached with the introduction and a long list of queries, was not buying this any more. He had called police.

Sahmat, set up in January 1989 after actor, poet and political and street theatre activist Safdar Hashmi was killed performing a play 20km from Delhi, brings together a cross-section of people to defend democracy and freedom of expression.

In white T-shirt and grey pants, the bespectacled Sharma had walked into its office posing as an FCRA official under the home ministry.

“He wanted to know every detail of the organisation, and I gave it to him. I didn’t even ask for his identity card. He initially started with who the members of the organisation were and also details of the kind of work we do. He asked me if Sahmat took foreign funds for their work, and when I said no, he said if I was offered, would I take it? I had no problems answering those questions,” Prasad said.

Then he named two people, who he said were connected with the Maharashtra blasts, and asked me if I knew them. I realised he was asking me if our group had connections with terrorists. That’s what made me suspicious. I asked for his identity card and he just flashed some card at me. I asked him which blasts he was talking about, and he couldn’t even answer that,” the Sahmat member said.

Soon, Sharma had been locked up and the police called.

“It’s the recent blasts in Maharashtra,” Sharma said in answer to this correspondent’s question as he tried to contact his bosses.

So where was his office? Sharma didn’t remember.

When the police arrived, the mystery was solved. “He is with the Intelligence Bureau and it was his mistake that he barged into Sahmat’s office and intimidated them. Sahmat can officially register a case if they want,” the Parliament Street SHO, Vijay Chandel, said before the police took him away.

It is not uncommon for officials of the Intelligence Bureau, the country’s internal spy agency, to make discreet enquiries about organisations. But to go about it as Sharma did provides a clue perhaps to the intelligence failures blamed for blast after blast.

“What’s completely unacceptable is that at the time of the incident, there were two artistes in the room — young women, one from Pakistan and the other a Bangladeshi, who are in the country for an international art workshop. He made such a fuss about their nationalities that they ran away from the spot,” said photographer Ram Rahman.

[Avinash R]

“What’s completely unacceptable is that at the time of the incident, there were two artistes in the room — young women, one from Pakistan and the other a Bangladeshi, who are in the country for an international art workshop. He made such a fuss about their nationalities that they ran away from the spot,” said photographer Ram Rahman.

So this is the reason behind making of this tamasha. and why would these bd,paki 'artistes' run away like that if they have nothing to hide.

[sum]

photographer Ram Rahman.

Ram Rahman?

Why is such a big deal being made about some enquiries being made by the IB? Arent they even supposed to do that,according to the secularists?

[pkudva]

Our Spy agencies should work with the spy agencies of our frienly countries like mosaad, KGB etc to ensure that we get to know the ways they try to trace the terroris.ts in their countries. Definately through this collabration we can improve the effieciency of our spy agency

[Raghavendra]

Our Spy agencies should work with the spy agencies of our frienly countries like mosaad, KGB etc to ensure that we get to know the ways they try to trace the terroris.ts in their countries. Definately through this collabration we can improve the effieciency of our spy agency

Hehe there is no KGB. It is the FSB.

[ChandraS]

X-post from Internal Security Watch thread

B Raman on Indian Mujahideen (Rediff)

....

Preventive intelligence also comes from the thorough interrogation of those arrested in connection with the previous blasts. All the arrests made so far, whether in UP or Jaipur or Ahmedabad , were mainly of those involved in those blasts. They apparently did not enable us to identify and arrest those trained with a capability for assembling IEDS, but who had not yet participated in any terrorist strike.

It should be apparent by now firstly, that we have only identified the tip of the jihadi iceberg in our midst. The iceberg itself remains unexposed. Secondly, we have not yet been able to identify the command and control of the IM. Thirdly, like al Qaeda, the IM is divided into a number of autonomous cells each capable of operating independently without being affected by the identification and neutralisation of the cells involved in previous blasts.

All these years, our focus was on the training camps for jihadi terrorists in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Interrogation of those arrested since the beginning of this year has brought out that many training camps had been held in different parts of India by SIMI. We were apparently oblivious of the details of these camps and the identities of those trained.

It is important to have a common investigation cell for the whole of India to identify the various elements involved in this wide area network and neutralise them. Piecemeal investigation in different states ruled by different political parties each with its own partisan perception and agenda will result in our continuing to bleed at the hands of this network

A federal agency, either new or carved from existing facilities, tasked with anti-terrorism operations is the crying need of the hour. Lack of coordinated effort and the tempo of ops depending on the bias of the political party in power is the bane of the current system. No wonder, despite excellent investigations and cracking the case to a significant extent in the previous blasts by the local agencies does not prevent the future blasts. We are currently reacting more than anything. We need to be more proactive and take the fight into the terros' court. Most of our successes in previous insurgencies/terrorist problems have come due to active action against the orgs and their masterminds rather than the few foot soldiers executing the plots.

Mannaniya Pradhan Mantri, Griha Mantri, Ati Mukhya Vyaktis & Ati Ati Mukhya Vyaktis,

Enough of expressing shock & grief and appealing for calm and peace. Get off y'er bloomin' A$$e$. Now on, only those terrorists/assorted flavors of extremists/jihadis, ityadi should be appealing for truce and mercy from us with none being given.