and if it does take over the whole gamut of terror related investigation, I'm at pains to understand the logic behind the continued existence of CBI !NIA would be be headed by a Director General at par with the DGPs of states. Other than offences of terrorism, it will deal with counterfeit currency, human trafficking, narcotics or drugs, organised crime(extortion mobs and gangs), plane hijacking and violations of atomic energy act and weapons of mass destruction act
Behind all that rhetoric is Unkil's Big Game. Only goes on to show that India should fight its own war and not expect the US to do its dirty work - even with US 'assurances' of 'action' this time around, we don't know whom to trust and probably, even whom to blame.Yoichi Shimatsu, former editor of the Japan Times, wrote last month after the Mumbai attacks that Ibrahim had worked with the US to help finance the mujahedeen during the 1980s and that because he knows too much about the US's 'darker secrets' in the region, he could never be allowed to be turned over to India.
The recent promotion of Lakhvi to 'mastermind' of the attacks while Ibrahim's name disappears from media reports would seem to lend credence to Shimatsu's assertion.
Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen similarly reported that according to intelligence sources, Ibrahim is a CIA asset, both as a veteran of the mujahedeen war and in a continuing connection with his casino and drug trade operations in Kathmandu, Nepal. A deal had been made earlier this year to have Pakistan hand Ibrahim over to India, but the CIA was fearful that this would lead to too many of its dirty secrets coming to light, including the criminal activities of high level personnel within the agency.
One theory on the Mumbai attacks is that it was backlash for this double-cross that was among other things intended to serve as a warning that any such arrangement could have further serious consequences.
Although designated as a major international terrorist by the US, media reports in India have characterised the US's past interest in seeing Ibrahim handed over as less than enthusiastic. Former Indian deputy prime minister L K Advani wrote in his memoir, My Country, My Life, that he made a great effort to get Pakistan to hand over Ibrahim, and met with then US secretary of state Colin Powell and then national security advisor Condoleezza Rice (now secretary of state) to pressure Pakistan to do so. But he was informed by Powell that Pakistan would hand over Ibrahim only "with some strings attached" and that then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf would need more time before doing so.
Bridge the troubled waters
The ‘blame-game’ that reared its ugly head in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks instantly reminded me of the fervent appeals of three successive chiefs of the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) to the Naval Headquarters to loan them naval officers for analysis of maritime intelligence. They were seriously concerned that they did not have the necessary expertise available to draw the right conclusions from the mass of information the agency collected from open, human and technical sources. And very correctly they approached the Navy.
Lack of maritime intelligence has also been the Navy’s bane for years. So we understood the handicap the R&AW worked with and felt that it was the Navy’s duty to help. As the Chief of Personnel, I recalled having personally selected some officers for deputation to the R&AW. But to my consternation, I learnt within a few months that most wanted to return to the Navy.
The naval officers deputed to the R&AW did not wish to continue with their deputation because when they were assigned their desks in the Cabinet Secretariat they found to their dismay that they had been placed under officers who were many years their junior in terms of service. Having taken this stoically, they then found that they were deprived of things like telephones, stenographers and transport because the ‘status’ assigned to them did not entitle them to these utilities. The R&AW authorities were sympathetic, but pleaded that they were not in a position to alter the equivalences apparently ‘laid down’ by a Kafkaesque Department of Personnel.
This is symptomatic of a larger malaise: the lack of coordination between organs of the Government of India, that also contributed to the recent Mumbai fiasco. This should not come as a surprise. The GoI is so laissez faire in its approach that it won’t intervene to eliminate inter-agency inequity that can result in crippling dysfunctionality. If you progressively marginalise, downgrade and degrade your own armed forces, you are undermining the security of the State. At the risk of exaggerating, I would venture to state that this is exactly what the Sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC) seems to have achieved.
Today, there is a distinct impression that the CPC has erred grievously on many issues relating to the armed forces. They were not represented in the Commission and its recommendations have spread confusion and consternation. One of the most serious consequences is the sudden and arbitrary alteration of relativities between the armed forces and their civilian counterparts, to the detriment of the former. The resulting change in relationships between the armed forces and para-militaries has grave operational implications that do not seem to have been understood at all at the political level.
Ex-Servicemen, too, are confounded to see the number of anomalies thrown up by the CPC. Take one example: no one understands by what logic a lieutenant-general, a major-general and a brigadier are going to be paid exactly the same pension, while a colonel (with half the service) will receive just Rs 100 less. The government has again rejected the ‘one rank one pension’ demand. But not even a feeble attempt has been made to bridge the gap between today’s and yesterday’s pensioners of the same rank. There is also a distinct impression that the CPC recommendations have been changed by the bureaucracy without due authorisation from the political level.
The most logical way to avoid this confusion and the sense of grievance among the armed forces and ex-servicemen would have been to place a service representative, if not in the CPC, in the review committee. This would have avoided controversy, speculation and unhappiness. A few retired service chiefs, including myself, had written to the Prime Minister to accord this concession. But the appeal remains unanswered.
Spreading unhappiness among the nation’s armed forces or demoralising them and the 2-3 million-strong ex-servicemen community does not serve anyone’s interest. Should someone in authority not sit up and take notice?
(Arun Prakash is former Chief, Indian Navy)
Our Roving Editor
New Delhi, December 26
They are being taken out of the closets, ‘dusted’ and put on the job that they had been doing for long before retirement. Also, capable officers and men are being sourced from the police, armed forces and paramilitary organisations for human, electronic and technical surveillance.
India’s newest secret agency — the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) — operating under the Prime Minister’s Office has been given a massive assignment to tab Pakistan, Bangadesh and China’s imagery and communications intelligence, using various platforms, including satellites.
Yes, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai (November 26-29) have shaken the Indian domestic and foreign intelligence gathering agencies so much that they are now trying to set their house in order.
Intelligence agencies have become conscious of their inadequacies and of the gaps in their knowledge. The ‘new terrorism’ is demanding a revamped intelligence apparatus at the national level and a reinforced co-operation mechanism at the regional and international levels.
Foreign spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and domestic espionage organisation, Intelligence Bureau, have realised that they lack enough ‘HUMINT’ — human intelligence — assets to prevent Mumbai like incidents.
Both RAW and IB are finding it difficult to develop ‘moles’ in the Pakistani system, especially the terrorist groups operating from across the border. “This is because we still do not play much the game of penetration in the enemy ranks,” a highly placed IB officer said, observing that “it is easier to penetrate the sensitive establishments of an adversary state than a terrorist organisation.”
The Mumbai episode has added urgency to the intelligence gathering agencies to develop human intelligence at a larger scale. Not only RAW and IB, economic and other espionage agencies have also been asked to enlarge their base.
Even those men who retired about a decade ago have been contacted with offer to rejoin ‘the company’ again at the rank and salary that they would have been having at this stage. Some of them have refused as they are well-placed in private jobs and it would be difficult for them to disappear again in the world of shadows.
But there are many who have happily given their consent to be back in the field. A senior officer, who retired recently, has been re-hired in one of the spy agencies. Then there are men who have been asked to operate under the cover of their private jobs. New stations are being opened in sensitive cities and border states.
In the NTRO, a preference is being given to those who have a flair for gathering technical intelligence. Many officers from the air force and army’s signal corps have been taken on deputation.
Operating as an ‘allied’ organisation of RAW, the NTRO is trying to develop itself on the lines of America’s National Security Agency (NSA), which is one of the most secretive members of the US intelligence community.
The NTRO’s mandate is not to affect the working of technical wings of various intelligence agencies, including those of armed forces. The NTRO has been instructed to emerge as a super-feeder agency for providing technical intelligence to other agencies on internal and external security.
America has the most sophisticated ‘SIGINT’ (signals intelligence) assets in the world. These assets include spy satellites and planes. These assets are also being used to detect terrorists by intercepting their phone, computer, e-mail and radio communications.
In the Mumbai attacks, the gunmen used technology to gain a tactical advantage. They reportedly carried Blackberries, CDs holding high-resolution satellite images like those used for Google Earth maps, and multiple cell phones with switchable SIM cards that would be hard to track.
Using satellite phones, the gunmen communicated with their leaders abroad, calling voice-over-Internet-protocol phone numbers, making them harder to trace. This was terrorism in digital age.
Like American, Indian intelligence experts are, however, realising that the technological assets still cannot replace the importance of human intelligence assets. Human operatives are still needed to infiltrate and uncover the plans of terrorist groups.
Spending on intelligence gathering through human resources has substantially declined in the militarily powerful western nations in past one decade. But more resources are now being directed toward to improve ‘human intelligence’ devoted to combat terrorists.
Indian agencies, especially RAW, are good in technical intelligence. But after realising that they now have to have ‘specific intelligence’ about terrorism activities -not vague as the country came to know after the Mumbai attacks - RAW and IB have gone for the ‘recruitment drive’ to enroll retired experienced men for field and desk jobs. Specialists are much in demand.
“The idea is to substantially increase the number of new sources reporting on terrorism as the job of tracking terrorists is not becoming easier,” a RAW source said.
Despite this, experts point out that failures there have been and failures there will be. No intelligence agency in the world, whatever are its human and material resources and its technical and technological capability, can claim or hope to be all-knowing. “What is required,” as an old guard put it, “There is need to reduce the gap between failures and success.”
Paki for sure considering shorter language and cultural barriers. Chinese - probably limited to Embassy employees having local contacts. Btw, no one here can confirm HUMINT sources as you would appreciate.sum wrote:Good to read that...real feel good piece after all the buffoonery our nets are subjecting us to.
However,regarding the quote of "normal" govt agencies being easier to penetrate compared to terrorist orgs:
Does it mean that we have sufficient HUMINT in Paki and Chinese govts/agencies?
While I am not a guru, can attempt to answer!Q to gurus:
What is the role of the CBI in future? It has no unique mandate which isnt already nbeing performed by other agencies?
Or is it that like the Pakis terror orgs, CBI has changed its name into NIA and the CBI is defunct for all practical purposes?
Why is IB off limits ? they had this unsucessful attempts via Ratan.ramana wrote:They should have upgraded the CBI and formalised its charter. There are no purely terrorism acts. They all have an economic angle to it. I suspect the NIA is a way for the US to get its toehold in Indian internal security apparatus. IB is off limits as it is. But mumble mumble singh is acting like a wounded puppy and is opening up the gates to everything while pretending to act.
Aviation Research Center), a top secret wing of RAW, took off from Chennai airport around 3am on Saturday. Sources refused to confirm if the ARC exercise was on the request of the Sri Lankan government.Do IB officers serve in China, Burma and Pak or was all this undercover biz?Ex-IB director to assess security scenario in State
From Deepak K Upreti,DH News Service,New Delhi:
Former Director of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Ajit Doval will make a first-hand assessment of security scenario in Karnataka before suggesting fresh measures for its improvement. When asked by Deccan Herald about his role as security advisor to the state government, Doval sought not to elaborate on the issue before making an assessment of the task at hand.
“I have been advising some other state governments too,” he said. Besides Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttarakhand have also been seeking Doval’s expert advise on security issues.
IB Director from 2004-05, he has received a special compliment from Laldenga of Mizo National Front who claim that Doval has won over 6 of his 7 army commanders. Leading from the front, Doval spent long periods incognito with the Mizo National Army in the Arakan in Burma and inside Chinese territory. Besides, he is understood to have spent an estimated six years in Pakistan too.
An IPS officer of 1968 batch (Kerala cadre), the ex-IB chief was actively involved in the conflicts relating to Mizo, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir. He is the first police officer in India to get Kirti Chakra.
Supposed to be one of the best minds on counter-terrorism operations, he has participated in some of the most daring operations and dramatic crisis-management-negotiations in the country for over last two decades.
RAW, IB, MI and G-Branch (BSF)?Atleast four Indian Intelligence Agencies run covert intel operations in our neighbourhood specially the neighbour in west .
satya wrote:Atleast four Indian Intelligence Agencies run covert intel operations in our neighbourhood specially the neighbour in west . IB was specifically given a free hand post Kargil for such ops . Apart from these 4 , there are techint agencies running their own ops . Intel flow has never been a problem, its the analysis or making the picture always found lacking . But things are changing now .
A bit stale news but MACs have been given additional power recently tht may help internal security situation considerably .
What's the name of the novel ?sum wrote:Was reading a novel by Vikram Chandra. In that he mentions that at the time of fall of the Soviet Union, Pak got into the act and tried to smuggle our currency printing plates from Soviet Union to help in their counterfeit ops against India. However, Indian agencies got wind of it and thwarted that attempt though they couldn't stop the Pakis from getting hold of lots of currency paper due to which their counterfeits were of superior quality.
Anyone in the loop knows if this is a fact or just a fiction of the novel?
Very plausible....Maybe, thats a reason for the Paki bluster/devil may care attitude?What is the possibility of nukes are already smuggled in India, as a second strike option for Pak? If 10 people can get into Mumbai so easily, how big deal is to smuggle a nuke and hide in Mumbai somewhere.
So, assuming something is fishy, are IB/RAW trying to dig more? Therer is no discussion over this topic in any media, why? If there is even a slightest possibility then all citizens must be made aware, I think.sum wrote:Very plausible....Maybe, thats a reason for the Paki bluster/devil may care attitude?What is the possibility of nukes are already smuggled in India, as a second strike option for Pak? If 10 people can get into Mumbai so easily, how big deal is to smuggle a nuke and hide in Mumbai somewhere.