Intelligence & National Security Discussion

[jamwal]

GOI visitor disappoints Israel

Israel DCM Yoed Magen gave us an unexpectedly downbeat readout of the August 28 visit to Jerusalem by MEA Secretary East Rajiv Sikri, reporting that Sikri appeared SIPDIS more often to be the representative of the Palestinians, rather than India.

Comment: Profiles in Cowardice

------------------------------

3. (C) The contrast in public approaches between the NDA and UPA government could not be more stark. The continued old-think in MEA (Ref A) clashes with India's proposal during the visit last week of Israel's Chief Scientist Eli Opper to expand the soon-to-be-established USD 2 million per year joint Indo-Israeli R&D fund to USD 25 million. (Note: The fund envisions supporting Indo-Israeli biotech, nanotech, space, water and alternative energy projects. End Note) It also stands in marked contrast to India's expanding defense trade with Israel. The GOI is willing to get down to business with Israel in defense, commercial, and scientific areas (Ref . However, the foreign policy establishment remains mired firmly in the past as the Congress-led UPA (beholden to India's 130 million Muslims for a chunk of its political support) continues to posture itself as the defender of Palestinian ambitions. The net result of this duplicity is that others have done more with Israel than the UPA.

[somnath]

NSA generally end up being Intel Czar , IIRC there was similar allegation thrown at the end of US Home Land security chief of being an Intel Czar.

In the US, the office of DNI was supposed to be the Intel Czar, though it hasnt really panned out in the manner intended..The CIA still pretty much reports independently to the President...

The trend of the NSA becoming a "gatekeeper" started in ABV's time..RN Kao infact setn a letter to ABV bemoaning this development and insisting that the PM should have direct oversight of RAW...

P Chidambaram made an attempt after 26/11 to become the defacto intel czar - wanted everyone to report to him..Fortunately that hasnt fructified...

[Austin]

Its no surprising RN Kao wrote to ABV ,he was the first chief and batting for his organisation , the RAW chief can still meet the PM if required and if that was necessary.

In the end there is nothing wrong with the institution of NSA chief as being the Czar as long as he impartially does his task and advices the GOI in a manner that keep the country interest above any thing else.

If the GOI appoints a NSA/RAW chief that can do GOI bidding and would just say things what the GOI wants to hear then screws up are bound to happen , the CIA chief came up with similar sexed up report to justify Iraq invasion and was batting for Bush regime and in the end could not prove any thing to justify those invasion and was proven wrong on key issue of BMD that was seen as the key point to justify the invasion.

[ASPuar]

P Chidambaram made an attempt after 26/11 to become the defacto intel czar - wanted everyone to report to him..Fortunately that hasnt fructified...

And yet, Sri Chidambarams attempts have created little more than fatherless children like the NIA....

[ramana]

I blame the head guy for not allowing the NIA to be effective.

J Edgar Hoover made the FBI not any one else.

Being an agency head is not another govt job. Its a huge responsibility.

[somnath]

And yet, Sri Chidambarams attempts have created little more than fatherless children like the NIA....

I would actually be a little more patient with NIA - its only been 2 years...Its an interesting concept..there is need for an agency that would look into and prosecute terror crimes at a pan-India leevl, without being restricted by police jurisdictions...Before NIA, the only agency that had the mandate and capacility to do that was CBI (remember neither RAW nor IB have powers of prosecution)...CBI used to, in fact AFAIK still has, a "Punjab Cell" for khalistani terror investigations...So I was a bit surprised that CBI was not asked to step-up to the task...I guess its a turf issue as well - CBI reports to the PM, not the HM! And PC wanted an outfit that reported to him, as finally his neck was on the block - fair point there...

So lets see how NIA shapes up on the crucial aspect of investiogation and then prosecution...the idea isnt all that bad....

[chiragAS]

Everyone in BR knows this (how they snoop in chat sites and manipulate people) just for the record sake Link

wondering how many such folks are in BR

[sum]

Menon-Rao behind soft line on Karmapa?

National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao , both former ambassadors to Beijing , prevailed over the dominant view of the Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorjee, being a "pro-China asset in India ", reports RS Chauhan


The government's sudden decision to go easy on the Karmapa and allow him to stay and to allocate one piece of land in Himachal Pradesh [ Images ] for him to build his own monastery, is the result of the SS Menon-Nirupama Rao line prevailing over the more hardliner view, top sources in the establishment have told rediff.com.

National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, both former ambassadors to Beijing, prevailed over the dominant view that the Tibetan spiritual leader, Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorjee, was a "pro-China asset in India".

At a high level meeting held a fortnight ago, the NSA and Rao overruled past and present evidence and government reports terming the Karmapa's presence in India as "prejudicial to national security interests,' saying that one last effort should be made to win him over.

Given the pre-eminence that Menon enjoys in this government, this view has been grudgingly accepted as the official line but officials in the home ministry, Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing point towards two past reports that had elaborated why the Karmapa should not be allowed to stay in India.

In 2003, an inter-ministerial group under the then joint secretary, ministry of external affairs, Nalin Surie (India's current high commissioner to London [ Images ]) and comprising officials of the MEA, ministry of home affairs, ministry of defence, IB, RA&W, concluded: 'The Karmapa's presence (in India) is prejudicial to India's national security interests.' The committee had studied all gamuts of the issue, looked at the historical precedents and all available evidence before coming to that conclusion. When the report was presented to the cabinet committee on security under the National Democratic Alliance regime, it was asked to once again review it.

Another year-long study, however, once again reiterated its findings and told the government in end-2004, now led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [ Images ], that all efforts should be made to send the Karmapa back since he had definite links with the Chinese establishment.

The government, however, sat on the report. But in 2009, the National Security Council Secretariat decided to undertake a separate study on the Karmapa under the then deputy NSA, Leela Ponnapa. After an eight-month effort, the NSCS said: 'His presence is not in India's national interest and the Karmapa has to be viewed as a pro-China asset bent on promoting China's interests...'

Given overwhelming evidence against the Karmapa, the then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee [ Images ] convened a review meeting on the Karmapa case. The meeting found that all efforts to win the Karmapa over between 2001 and 2008 (for instance, by giving him Z plus category security, meeting all his expenditure and allowing him to expand his monastery) had failed and therefore his activities needed to be curbed.

And, yet, the UPA government decided to do nothing on the Karmapa until the recent controversy. Sources in the security establishment point out that there is no truth in the argument put forward by Karmapa apologists that all his monetary transactions are handled by his devotees and officials and he has no role to play in the day to day administration of the Kargyu sect that he heads.

So the Karmapa is a Manchurian candidate then?

Wonder if we have turned him and thats why the reluctance to dispense away with the Karmapa?

[somnath]

^^^Such news need to be taken with a pinch of salt - they might be true, but equally they might be hatchet jobs of vested interests...Every meeting of the Karmapa with anyone has an IB rep "sitting in"..His entire setup and entourage is riddled with Indian intel operatives...For him to be working for the Chinese would really require divine powers!

[VinodTK]

India assesses Chinese military abilities

The strategic shift to broaden India's strategic interests represents a historic shift from Pakistan, with whom India engaged in conflict in 1947, 1965 and in 1971, which led to the establishment of Bangladesh, and Indo-Pakistani confrontation in 1991, as also known as the "Kargil" war" over control in Jammu and Kashmir.
:
India's rapidly increasing military budget has enabled to country to strengthen its alpine mountain divisions as well as allow it to search on the international market for specialized weapon systems that can assist the nation in increasing its operational capabilities in possible mountainous operations against China.

[devesh]

^^^ about time. Pakis are a constant khujli on our backs, though venomous ones; PRC, on the other hand, is a different scenario. we're lucky we have the Himalayas protecting us. but natural protection must be augmented with hard assets on ground, or we're screwed.

massive road network and an array of mil bases all across the Northern border is a necessity.

[dinesha]

Finmin Vs Home: NCTC paper stuck in PMO
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 758944.cms

NEW DELHI: It took the United States three years after 9/11 to build the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, or NCTC, an umbrella body to deal with terror threats and attacks, but its proposed Indian replica has not even hit the discussion stage two-and-a-half years after the 26/11 terror attacks and a year after the Home Ministry submitted its paper on NCTC to the Prime Minister's Office.

Thanks to reservations of the Finance Ministry and other security agencies outside the purview of the Home Ministry, about overall control of various arms of intelligence being concentrated at one power centre, the NCTC discussion paper has been gathering dust in South Block since April 2010. Let alone deciding the shape and constitution of NCTC, the prime ministerial establishment has shown little inclination to even discuss MHA's paper with Ministries of Finance, External Affairs and Defence.

Incidentally, the MHA paper, sources told ET, has left open the issue of the nodal ministry for the proposed anti-terror body. Home Minister P Chidambaram - who had at the Intelligence Bureau endowment lecture in 2009 unveiled his road map for a new security architecture - is said to have offered options of keeping NCTC either under MHA, bringing it directly under the control of the PMO, or forming a separate ministry of homeland security.

The suggestions include merging the National Security Council Secretariat with the Joint Intelligence Committee to form NCTC. There are also options in the discussion paper regarding the shape and constitution of the NCTC. Among these are having a senior intelligence head as Director, NCTC; the question of whether he/she should be drawn from R&AW, Intelligence Bureau or any other agency, has been left open for discussion.

"The Home Minister has laid down all possible options, including keeping NCTC under a different nodal ministry. If the various ministers represented on the Cabinet Committee of Security, which will take the final decision on NCTC, have any reservations or alternate suggestions, they must sit down to discuss the MHA's paper so that a political call can be taken on the shape of the proposed anti-terror body," a senior Home Ministry official pointed out.

It is only after a political call is taken on the nodal ministry for the NCTC and its composition that the MHA can prepare the Cabinet note for setting up the anti-terror body and put it up before the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for a final decision.

Chidambaram had, while unveiling his radical plans for a security revamp in 2009, proposed NCTC as an overarching body for preventing, containing and responding to terror attacks.

All the intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including those under different ministries such as Defence and Finance, he suggested, would come under NCTC's oversight to the extent they deal with terrorism. The controversial part, however, came when he added that it was only logical and natural to put NCTC under MHA. This obviously did not go down well with other ministries like Finance, which saw Chidambaram's proposal as an encroachment upon their turf.

Incidentally, the Finance Ministry - which has of late not been on the same page as the Home Ministry on several issues - has forced yet another pet proposal of Chidambaram, the National Intelligence Grid or NATGRID, on the back-burner. NATGRID proposes to link various individual databases such as bank accounts, income-tax, phone calls, credit card transactions, property records, immigration records, etc so that they can be accessed in a single click by various designated intelligence and law enforcement agencies. However, ministries like Finance have expressed individual privacy concerns in sharing data related to banking and Income-Tax returns.

Though MHA finalised a detailed project report on NATGRID and had sought permission around 90 days back to make a presentation before the CCS answering the concerns of other ministries regarding sharing of databases, no response has been forthcoming from the Cabinet Secretariat so far.

"We should at least be allowed a chance to allay the privacy concerns over NATGRID proposal," argued an MHA official, raising a question mark on the Cabinet authorities' go-slow approach in the matter.

[Rupesh]

Spies route---- Uncle Sam’s spooks are watching us. Here’s why

Copenhagen. December 7, 2009. United Nations Climate Change Conference. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh were hammering out India’s climate policy for the summit. Leader of the bloc of developing nations, India was not seeing eye-to-eye with the US. A worried White House quietly alerted CIA Director Leon E. Panetta to get cracking.A former US Army intelligence officer and former chief of staff of president Bill Clinton, Panetta hustled top US scientists and spies to interpret all the intelligence gathered on India’s negotiating position and about individuals who were spearheading India’s climate change policy.

Declassified CIA documents show that the agency had started gathering intelligence at least seven months before Copenhagen. Ahead of the summit, the CIA’s Office of the Chief Scientist “supported and funded” an extensive study on India—The impact of climate change to 2030: Geopolitical implications.

The study suggested that the US pre-negotiate with India about the climate change issues and find a common ground outside the public and international eye. The CIA also shared its massive archives of classified environmental data with scientists. WikiLeaks confirmed America’s covert campaign to target India at Copenhagen.

All these plans are part of CIA-2015, Panetta’s grand blueprint for the CIA’s resurrection. Panetta wants the agency to recruit, train and retain a diverse workforce for more innovative deployments abroad. The immediate focus of Panetta’s shadow warriors is the Af-Pak region where they run secret facilities to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda.
But India’s growing clout has persuaded the CIA to turn the spyglass on New Delhi. The spooks in the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, are tracking virtually everything from Parliament proceedings to political parties to arms deals to internal security issues.

A senior Indian intelligence officer who has been closely watching CIA-2015 confirmed the agency’s unprecedented interest in India. He said some of the CIA’s best men are secretly travelling through different states and are setting up networks to watch political developments and separatist movements. These networks will seek information about India’s nuclear arsenal and military modernisation.

“The CIA is sending Indian-origin and south Asian-origin officers to India so that they can merge better,” said Jayadeva Ranade, former additional secretary, Research & Analysis Wing. “The basic approach [of the CIA] will be to befriend senior bureaucrats, senior military officials, politicians to find what our intentions are and what we are planning to do.”

The home ministry confirmed that more than 3,500 Americans are illegally overstaying in India since 2006. Neither the ministry nor the security agencies know their whereabouts. Onkar Kedia, spokesman, home ministry, told THE WEEK that his office did not have details about how many illegal aliens from the US had been deported.
A senior serving intelligence officer said that the ‘missing Americans’ could be part of a ‘deep penetration itinerary’. “For example, an undercover CIA agent might be tasked to locate himself for a specific period somewhere near Mumbai or Kochi to collect some information about the movement of warships,” said the official. “Once the job is done, the agent is withdrawn.”

Washington started arm-twisting New Delhi to share information with Islamabad. According to a cable leaked by WikiLeaks (185722: confidential), New Delhi refused to share information with Islamabad. Washington continued arm-twisting and soon the US embassy in Delhi cabled Washington that India had agreed to share “some restricted information” with Pakistan.

On July 6, 2009, the CIA also fixed a meeting in the US between top intelligence officials of India and Pakistan. It is not known if the meeting was held.
The CIA has also been snooping about India’s nuclear and military facilities. India regularly figures in the CIA’s annual report on ballistic missile threats. The CIA had detected a shipment of beryllium bound for India from West Germany. As beryllium shells are used to house plutonium cores of thermonuclear devices, it was quite clear as to what India was up to.

Chief of the Army Staff General V.K. Singh told THE WEEK that adequate safety measures were taken in light of the increased activity of the western intelligence agencies. A senior Army officer said that retired officers who work for foreign defence and security companies were being closely watched as part of a counter-intelligence programme

As part of this programme, the CIA allegedly commissioned a 20-state survey on Indian Muslims. Reportedly, US-based Princeton Survey Research Associates International were the main contractors. Allegedly, they sub-contracted it to TNS, a Delhi-based market research agency.
In Kerala’s capital of Thiruvananthapuram, TNS staff visited Karimadom colony, a predominantly Muslim area. The questionnaire was bizarre: Do you consider yourselves Indians first or Muslims first? Your views on imposing Islamic law in India? Do you like Osama bin Laden? Will you give him refuge if he comes to Kerala? Police nabbed four TNS staff after Karimadom residents complained.

M.K. Dhar, former joint director, Intelligence Bureau, puts it crisply: “The CIA has legitimate interests in India. But our problem with the CIA has been that it has targeted the sensitive segments of Indian panorama.” He recalled how the CIA had developed a mole inside prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao’s office in 1993. “The plot was exposed when we noticed a peon from the PMO frequently visiting a photostat shop in Khan Market in Delhi. He was smuggling files from the PMO.” The peon was arrested and his American handler was asked to leave the country. The court closed the case last year.

[sum]

^^ More from that link:
CIA worked directly with Nehru

It was in 2005 that Lisa Cathey, a Washington-based award-wining documentary film-maker, came to know that her father, Clay Cathey, was a CIA officer posted in Calcutta and that he had worked on the Tibetan Task Force in 1962. The next thing she would do was to explore this little-known territory in a documentary, CIA in Tibet, which will be released next year. Excerpts from an interview:

What inspired you to make a documentary on CIA’s covert operation in Tibet?
On a visit to my father in 2005, I noticed a ‘Free Tibet’ bumper sticker on his golf cart. (He is in his 80s now, and plays a lot of golf.) I asked why he had it, and he replied that he had worked on a Tibetan operation in the late 50s and early 60s. I was stunned having no idea the CIA was ever involved in Tibet. I knew dad had been in the CIA, but he never shared any information on his work until that day. After reading up on it a bit, it was amazing that this dramatic part of Tibetan and US history was still so widely unknown, and I felt compelled to do a documentary to engage the public more on the subject.

Does your documentary throw light on how the Dalai Lama was whisked into exile in India?
One of the main things is breaking the myth that the CIA engineered the Dalai Lama’s escape. The Dalai Lama’s Lord Chamberlain, Phala, seems to have worked out a detailed plan for an escape during the Tibetan uprising. The CIA had no knowledge of Phala’s plans. The Dalai Lama wanted to re-establish his government in southern Tibet, where the Tibetan resistance still had a stronghold. When he learned en route that tens of thousands of PLA troops were hunting him as a fugitive, he agreed to go to India, at which point the CIA and the US state department worked directly with Nehru to secure political asylum.

[sum]

^^

M.K. Dhar, former joint director, Intelligence Bureau, puts it crisply: “The CIA has legitimate interests in India. But our problem with the CIA has been that it has targeted the sensitive segments of Indian panorama.” He recalled how the CIA had developed a mole inside prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao’s office in 1993. “The plot was exposed when we noticed a peon from the PMO frequently visiting a photostat shop in Khan Market in Delhi. He was smuggling files from the PMO.” The peon was arrested and his American handler was asked to leave the country. The court closed the case last year.

Even peons were not spared from the penetration attempts.

The sad part about this whole article is that we keep talking about how CIA is penetrating India from all sides but there is zilch to suggest we are remotely trying to do anything similar in the US to further our interests.

[Craig Alpert]

Well you know what they say, "no news is always good news" maybe they have been doing it quietly without being noticed. or you might be 100% correct and India would not have the resources and/or technical know how of of penetrating see-eye-ay

[Virupaksha]

^^^Such news need to be taken with a pinch of salt - they might be true, but equally they might be hatchet jobs of vested interests...Every meeting of the Karmapa with anyone has an IB rep "sitting in"..His entire setup and entourage is riddled with Indian intel operatives...For him to be working for the Chinese would really require divine powers!

and you know that because.....

[rajkumar]

Even peons were not spared from the penetration attempts.

Peons are the best people to target for information. They are 'cheap' and very effective.

I once adviced a very large Indian MNC on security and the high ups couldn't believe that I could get around all the security that they had in place.

It proved very simple, I paid the secretary to the MD 3 months salary and I had access to all his communications in coming and outgoing.

You should have seen the look on peoples faces when I tabled this info at the wash up meeting!!!

[Sachin]

Even peons were not spared from the penetration attempts.

Not directly connected to collecting Intelligence, peons in India would be the best people to be targetted for gathering any information . They may have the least of educational qualiifcations, but they are not dumbos. Infact in any government office the points-man for any dirty job (including bribery) is usually the peons. They are also the "runners" for the higher officials, and so if they are smart enough they can easily know the contents of the messages, or even the general happenings in the office. The next in line after peons would be the "official drivers". They too can give lots of inside information.

[ASPuar]

Ha, the peon usually knows more than the boss, in Sarkaari offices!

[Craig Alpert]

'Tarantula' to decode Chinese phones

[Craig Alpert]

HOSTING THE WORLD CUP - cost does not matter when lives are at stake...
IAF on call at Fortress Mohali

........
Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters are on standby for air surveillance and fighter jets at Ambala are just a moment away from scrambling in case of emergency. Foolproof security is not confined to the multi-tier system that includes Special Protection Group (SPG), National Security Guard (NSG), and Central and state police forces. For, also roped in is the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) — a highly specialized technical intelligence gathering agency under the National Security Adviser.

A high level source told TOI that NTRO is tasked with air surveillance and it`s expected to use Israeli-made unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). It`s further learned that NTRO`s Dehradun base is working behind the scenes. The UAVs are also capable of detecting airborne aggressors and were used during the Commonwealth Games. Wednesday`s match will be the first between the arch rivals on Indian soil after the 2008 Mumbai attacks by Pakistan-based terrorists.

Special teams of the SPG and NSG landed here on the Sunday to take charge of security. The Mohali stadium will be completely under the command and control of Central agencies from March 29 to 30. The main internal security mechanism will be in the hands of SPG. Pakistani security will coordinate with SPG.

Special teams of elite NSG commandos armed with Heckler & Koch 9mm MP-5 sub-machine guns, corner shot guns, Glock 17 or Sig Sauer pistols and poison-tipped knives, would take charge of the outer field. Some of these sophisticated weapons were purchased by the NSG following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The remaining layers of the security would be handled by Central and state police forces.

Snipers were deployed on Sunday on all high-rise buildings adjoining Hotel Taj-17, where players of both teams are staying.

[Raja Bose]

^^DDM seems to have indulged in some cut-copy-paste in the above article.

[svinayak]

Good article to understand how they think in the west about India and its challenges.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... 585388.ece

Top analyst outlines possibility of India abandoning “strategic restraint” doctrine

NARAYAN LAKSHMAN
A top analyst in Washington has described India’s possible abandonment of its “strategic restraint,” or reticence to use force as an instrument of policy, as potentially “revolutionary.”

However he has argued that the doctrine’s roots are too strong and India’s “survival despite failures, including against China and Pakistan, suggest that it will endure.”

In a recent paper entitled, Is India Ending its Strategic Restraint Doctrine? Stephen Cohen of the Brookings Institution in Washington, along with Sunil Dasgupta of the University of Maryland, noted that India has shown strategic restraint historically towards aggressive neighbours such as Pakistan and China.

In this light, they argue, “Linear projections of current trends do not predict India abandoning its strategic restraint; for that, it will require a major and unforeseeable disruption at home or abroad.”

The authors suggest that while a strategically and militarily assertive India could be “revolutionary,” perhaps even end India’s 60-year strategic equivalence with Pakistan and precipitate a more competitive relationship with China, it is unlikely to abandon strategic restraint with each of its neighbours for specific reasons.

Regarding China, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Dasgupta suggest that the India-China bilateral relationship has been as cooperative as it has been conflicting, and a number of Indians “including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” who would prefer to avoid an expensive arms race with China that will detract India from its primary task of economic development.

In the context of Pakistan, the paper leans more towards the case for India abandoning strategic restraint, arguing, “The potential of a failed Pakistan would have horrendous consequences, and India seeks to be strategically active in limiting the fallout of a collapse.”

Yet, they note, India has not moved to abandon strategic restraint and “develop the institutional capacity to deal with such an eventuality.”

http://www.twq.com/11spring/docs/11spri ... _Cohen.pdf

[Pranav]

Top analyst outlines possibility of India abandoning “strategic restraint” doctrine
http://www.twq.com/11spring/docs/11spri ... _Cohen.pdf

That seems to be a fairly accurate and analytical article by Dasgupta and Cohen.

[VinodTK]

Border defence units don't know their job: Parliament panel

An Indian parliamentary panel was recently amazed when told that the country’s Military Intelligence (MI) had no knowledge of the infrastructure and the roads being created by different countries, particularly China, across India’s borders.

Taking exception to such lack of information, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, which was examining officials on the ‘construction of roads in border areas’, said the response of the MI and the Defence Ministry ‘speaks volumes of the casual attitude towards such an important matter concerning the security of the nation’.

[jai]

Border defence units don't know their job: Parliament panel

Taking exception to such lack of information, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, which was examining officials on the ‘construction of roads in border areas’, said the response of the MI and the Defence Ministry ‘speaks volumes of the casual attitude towards such an important matter concerning the security of the nation’.

The Defence Secretary and representatives of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) told the parliamentary committee that they would not be able to meet the deadline of 2012 to implement Long Term Perspective Plans (LTPP), which involve the construction of 277 roads of 13,100 km length at a cost of Rs 24,886 crore. Angered at the response, the panel reminded the BRO that it was a prestigious organisation that needed to adhere to international standards. Further, it said despite celebrating its golden jubilee in 2010, the BRO was yet to learn how to make tunnels.

This is a sad state of affairs, no wonder we need to spend billions on buying transporters and then billions more in operating them daily to provide basic rations to troops in forward areas. Forget about getting the required heavy firepower along mountainous/jungle borders. St. Anthony needs to do a serious cleaning of his house, throw out the Babus and put retired servicemen in MOD.

[sum]

^^ Maybe the MI didn't want to divulge all they knew( with a wink from MoD) to avoid all the info going to press?

[suryag]

and MI is one of the stronger intelligence agencies from among RAW, IB and itself

[Austin]

The Bug’s Musings: The Centre plans a clean-up in tainted intel agency NTRO

[jai]

^^ Maybe the MI didn't want to divulge all they knew( with a wink from MoD) to avoid all the info going to press?

On roads construction - which are as much public assets used by locals in border areas as defence ?? Or did I miss - understand something ?

[sum]

^^ Well, the committee complained that MI didn't seem to have a clue about the border infrastructure of the neighboring countries and not ours...thats why the doubt about if MI wanted to even reveal what we knew..

[Craig Alpert]

Lashkar bid to attack World Cup final posing as scribes averted

[anirban_aim]

<Speculative Cap On>

Guys was going through this new report on the main site, that has brought on this speculative cap.

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/news ... wsid=14586

When I saw the title, I was like WTF?? what will these dumbasses teach us?? Anyways whats the commanility of purpose apart from the possible Pirate angle and even then how many K of SA ships have actually been threatened eh??

While reading the article with contempt, this struck me

Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, called on Prime Minister Singh to express his keen interest in further consolidating relations between the two nations and indicated the desire of the Gulf States to do the same.

Now this Bandar (Pun Intended) is a close business associate of Jr. & Sr. Bush. They are also family friends as per some circles. The CIA also had extensive dealing with the K of SA hierarchy through him. Was also the ambassador of K of SA to the Khanland.

Now this dude comes and hobnobs with MMS. What the hell is going on??

What in the god's name can these nincompoops share with the IN? When the AF of KSA has Puki pilots flying their Solahs when they were the only ones to recognize Taliban, when they regularly fund hardline Sunni/wahabi extremists creating havoc in K among other places? What can a regime offer us which depends upon Khan for the moolah for the Oil and the military hardware and the muscle? What commanilty of goals do we forsee??

These thoughts brought in one more thought. Eye-Ran. Khan and the shekihs both hate Eyeran.

My conspiracy theory goes like this: The bade baba saabs of the big oil and big money Pressure Groups have already set their eyes on Eyeran. They do not think that the Khani public will tolerate the Baba O Bummer for another term. (Well Fox can definitely help there) and whenever they are back whether 2014 or after that Eyeran will be on the agenda. Future energy security is crucial. The days of Cheap Oil is over. The biggest Oil producer is a vassal (KSA), the third biggest is under a puppet regime and the second biggest will be on the chopping block. (I'm talking only about P.Gulf states here, excluding Russkies and the Venezuelans)

Is Libya an indicator? I don't know I would like to think so.

Now India, France and Russia apart from China are traditional allies of Eyeran. So strategy is to work on them while there is time and the lowest hanging fruit in the bunch is Bharat especially with the Bush's Mush loving MMS at the helm (Y'all remember his best friend of India bit)

Here please stop and look back for a moment how INdia's approach towards Eyeran has changed over the years under MMS. Iran Pakistan India Gas pipeline is dead. India voted against Iran at UN once and once abstained. Ahmednijad didn't take that well. COmpare this against the days when we were suppossed to be friends with the Iranian people and Iran had refused to back the UNSC resolution on K, one of the only Islamic countries to do so. ( NOw Now I'm no friend of Iran and do not care 2 hoots about what happens to Iran or Ahmedinijad, the example was only to bring about the contrast with time. All I really care about is Namma Bharatvarsha)

Now what would they want the Bhartiya Nau Sena do is what I wonder? Join In? Dreams are good but that's hard to materialize, logistic support? May be. Diplomatic Support Definitely.

Now, will this bonhomie last only still Eyeran or worse still will we be left holding the baby is my question? Secondly any close cooperation with the Khan's makes me nervous about penetration of our agencies.

And most importantly what are they offering us in return of our support? What Carrot? NSG? I know not. Suggestions welcome.
Such an initiative would not have been materialized without the support of the good offices of the RAW & CIA atleast for initial liason. (This kind of thought is beyond MEA) So where does RAW see value? or is it just following orders in facilitating this?

<Speculative Cap Off>

I'm reading too much into something simple and straight? May be but then who knows??

[Pranay]

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/ ... n-pakistan

A Spy in Pakistan
After 27 years in Pakistan prisons, Gopal Das got a hero’s welcome when he returned last week to his village in Punjab. He was on a spying mission for India when he was arrested near Sialkot in 1984. Hard as they come, Gopal Das tells his story.

From 1977 to 1984, no one would have accomplished as many tasks as I did. In my area of operation, I was an acknowledged hero. I never came back without finishing my task, I never left it half done.

The officers don’t know the ground situation; they learn from us. For instance, they don’t know that every 20 or so kilometres, the dialect changes. We have to pay close attention to how the language is spoken in a particular region and learn to speak the same way. On the field, you have to use your head. It is all about presence of mind.

My efficiency on the job didn’t make my senior happy. He grew jealous of me. My pay had now overtaken his, though he was an officer and I only a spy. The pay of an inspector was Rs 1,100 (this was still the late 70s, early 80s). Mine was Rs 1,500. When I entered the office, he had to leave his chair.

I had no respect for him. Even in jail, I respected only those officers who were good at their jobs. I had even complained to the additional director that I was worried my field officer would get me arrested.

And it happened. On the night of 26 July 1984, I was caught. My assignment was to cover the Chenab River bridge in Gujrat (reference here to Pakistan’s Gujrat district in the Punjab province). And I had to get information about the air force base in Lahore. I had to bring photos.

I was arrested near Sialkot, across the border from Ranbir Singh Pura (RS Pura) in Jammu. I had spent the night at Budhwar border post. I was woken up at three in the morning and at 4 am it was time to leave. I crossed the border and got on my way. I couldn’t see anyone. But I was being watched. As I walked on, it was 5 by now, I found myself ambushed by a dozen or so people. If I had a weapon, I might have tried to fight. But there was nothing I could do then. I kept insisting that I was a local. But it didn’t wash. I had been caught and it was all over.

I was then taken for interrogation. I wasn’t sure if I would live or die. That is how interrogations are. It depends on the person, how much he can take. For three years, I was interrogated in Sialkot’s Gora jail.

One of our men had been caught earlier. He had leaked information about me. I denied everything, of course. That’s what you do there: you lie and hope you will be let off. They showed me the photo of the person who had tipped them off about me. He was from Sunder Nagar in Pathankot. He was a rickshawallah working for the Intelligence. I knew then I had no hope.

[wig]

J&K Muslim jawan helped nab Pak spy

The latest spy saga between India and Pakistan that unveiled a few kilometres away from Mohali stadium where prime ministers of India and Pakistan met while the two sides played the World Cup semi-final has an unlikely hero: An Indian Army soldier from Kashmir Valley.

According to sources, it was the quick reflexes of the soldier that led to the dramatic detention of a Pakistan high commission driver in Chandigarh, a few kilometres away from where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani were meeting. What has added a special sense of pride to those who oversaw the operation is the fact that the one who helped nab the Pakistani spy was a Kashmiri Muslim.

Sources said the Pakistan high commission driver had targeted the Army man "because of his distinct Kashmiri features" and had used discussions about Kashmir to endear himself to the soldier. He walked up to the Indian soldier at a Chandigarh crossing and struck up a conversation. In the subsequent meeting, the driver offered money to him for divulging military details.

According to sources, the soldier used quick reflexes to trap the driver. He told the Pakistani spy that though he may not have any valuable information, he could put him in touch with other Army personnel who could provide sensitive info.

On the pretext of introducing him to other personnel, the soldier walked the Pakistani driver to his Army unit. When they were just metres away from the gate, the soldier caught hold of the driver and shouted for help. His colleagues came in and assisted him in overpowering the driver and take him inside. In this scuffle, the driver was mildly injured.

The Pakistan high commission official was interrogated for almost 24 hours but "he turned out be a hard nut, revealing very little", a source said.

Within hours of the driver's arrest, Pakistani authorities detained an Indian high commission staffer in Islamabad. The matter ended with both sides releasing their respective detainees.

Sources indicated that the Indian soldier could be recommended for appropriate military commendation.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 009402.cms

[sum]

^^ Not sure why the headline of "J&K Muslim" nabs the ISI goon..... Do we highlight the fact if a Chennai Christian native would have caught him? Why should we try to portray a J&K native jawan as someone different from a normal IA jawan?

[ranjithnath]

there was a report yesterday about the creation of a new central agency to b headed by the NSA.Its supposedly called strategic protection staff and is funded by the PMO.The report slams the government for the creation of yet another agency and lack of coordination and synergy between different intelligent agencies.Did anyone notice it??cant find the link on their site though.

[ramana]

^^^ Which paper or outlet? Becomes difficult to confirm without that.

[ranjithnath]

indian express kochi edition.dated sunday 17th april 2011.It was a front page article.