Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
RAW left with egg on its face as terror plot unravels
I want to make it clear to the Mumbai Police official who said that it was a bad call, No sir it was the right thing for you to shame the ISI.
On the other hand, ISI just told R&AW that there this particular source of info is compromised. R&AW also did the right thing to pass the info to Mumbai police. In such critical matters, triggering a false alarm is way less harmful than failing to set off the alarm when required.
I want to make it clear to the Mumbai Police official who said that it was a bad call, No sir it was the right thing for you to shame the ISI.
On the other hand, ISI just told R&AW that there this particular source of info is compromised. R&AW also did the right thing to pass the info to Mumbai police. In such critical matters, triggering a false alarm is way less harmful than failing to set off the alarm when required.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Roperia wrote:RAW left with egg on its face as terror plot unravels
I want to make it clear to the Mumbai Police official who said that it was a bad call, No sir it was the right thing for you to shame the ISI.
On the other hand, ISI just told R&AW that there this particular source of info is compromised. R&AW also did the right thing to pass the info to Mumbai police. In such critical matters, triggering a false alarm is way less harmful than failing to set off the alarm when required.
This is worth critiquing for it reveals the minds of the various sources and the Hindu in priningt this drivel.
RAW left with egg on its face
Pravin Swami Mohammad Ali
{Head line plays upon the acronym of the Indian intelligence service. This itself sets the tone of the article.}
Men intelligence service said were terrorists who infiltrated India turn out to be Lahore businessmen
The Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence service, is facing allegations of incompetence after three Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives who, it claimed, were about to conduct a suicide-squad operation in western India turned out to be living at their homes in Lahore — and to be businessmen, not terrorists.
{There could still be real terrorist using the ids of these people. The 26/11 terrorists had fake ids even Indian ones.}
The Mumbai police issued warnings earlier this week after receiving information on what they said was an imminent plot to target two of India's largest oil refineries: Reliance Industries' plant at Jamnagar in Gujarat and Mittal Energy's unit at Bhatinda, Punjab.
{How do we know its not a plot by ISI to extract funds from these two business houses and maybe they paid up and hence these were revealed as fake. It was ISI that said these were terrorists and its the ISI that is saying these are business men. Looks like a psy-ops on part of ISI which can't carry out real terrorist attacks and hence is using virtual or fake terrorist attacks for what ever reasons.}
Five Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives, the police alleged in briefings for the media on Wednesday, had infiltrated India to execute the operation.
Though periodic warnings have been issued on the threats to the plant — the last by the Intelligence Bureau in May — this warning was unusually specific, and accompanied by photographs of the Lashkar team.
Late on Wednesday evening though, a Pakistani television show host revealed that the men were living in Lahore: two running shops at the Hafeez shopping complex in Lahore's Gulberg district, and the third a guard employed on the premises.
{What about the other two? The Indian alert was for five men. The Lahore TV host talked about only two businessmen and a guard! They seem to be petty shopkeepers and hardly businessmen like Ambani or Mittal.}
The revelations led shopkeepers in Lahore to stage demonstrations in support of the two men, while the Jamaat-ud-Dawa said this showed that India falsified information on Pakistani involvement in terrorist strikes, including 26/11. {This itself shows the motive was to discredit the GoI dossiers on the 26/11 terrorist attack while US SOS was visiting India and claiming to have put the bounty on the Hafiz ul Suar}Both men also moved the Lahore High Court on Thursday, seeking protection against any possible action by India, and have told The Hindu that they intended to petition the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to be formally exonerated.
{I guess that Hindu is at same level as the Lahore High Court in giving protection to these honorable men! The men should be petitioning the ISI to find out why were their names given to Indian intelligence agencies? After all they are petty shopkeepers unlike Osama to be sold out. The Hindu seems to have decided to take on itself the task of disciplining RAW which the LHC cannot do as, it cannot deal with Hafiz ul Suar.}
No official explanation has been offered by New Delhi for the apparent debacle.{None is needed. Salus publica suprema lex. Public safety is the supreme law. Safety of the public overides all considerations. This is the biggest responsibility. Or did you not go through civics in high school.} A fresh alert was issued in Pune after local intelligence officials warned that the suicide squad could strike the city. The RAW officer with supervisory responsibility for issuing the alerts did not respond to a query from The Hindu.
{So Hindu knows the name of the RAW officer in charge of issuing alerts. Isnt that a violation of some rules or the other?}
Elusive answers
The testimonyfrom the two men who spoke to The Hindu from Lahore threw up as many questions as it answered.
{i]{Two petty miscreants whose names were outed by ISI, an intelligence agency and whining to Hindu reporter can hardly be called testimony. I suggest Hindu self-assess their own importance. Testimony is given in court of law not to reporters no matter how important they think they are.}[/i] Late on Wednesday, shopkeeper Mahtab Buttsaid he had on a whim used Google to search for the word ‘India.' The search led him to an India Today group site. There, he discovered a photo of himself, fellow storeowner Atif Butt
and night guard Muhammad Babar,{Not the elephant! Why not Aurangazeb? Note, With names like these, the Hindu is the butt of ISI jokes.} illustrating a story on the alleged Mumbai terror plot.
Mr. Butt said he immediately called Pakistani television show host Mubashir Lucman — a controversial figure known for his dogged support of the religious right — with the news.
{There you go. Another tip off. M Lucman, isn't that a kufr name, a known supporter of terrorists (not religious right) is the go to person for wronged people!}
Three separate Google searches conducted by The Hindu did not lead to results with India Today on the first page, raising questions about this account —though, in all fairness, results using the site often vary by region.
{In that case does this justify the article title? On your own volition you are saying there is some dal me kala in this google search! Did they thry Bing?}
Later that evening though, both Mr. Butt and Mr. Atif Butt provided The Hindu with a quite different version of events.The two men said they had learned of the report from a common friend, whom they identified as Khubaab.
{Note not kabab! So by evening they got their story line as per approved ISI handlers. How many Khubaabs not kababs do the reporters know?}
Neither man could explain where the photographs of them — clearly personal in nature, rather than the kinds typically used in passport or driving-licence applications — were taken. Nor did they have any explanation for what led them, or their friend, to search for information on India late in the evening.
{Most likely the ISI was developing fake ids for their pet terrorists and got these duffers to pose and took those pictures. Recall ISI's history. They were founded by Maj Gen Cawthorne, the head of BIA intelligence in WWII. Running psy-ops was one of the strong points of BIA intelligence.}
Duped by ISI?
Highly placed intelligence sources in New Delhi said the photographs had been obtained from an individual they described as a “trans-border source — a euphemism for smugglers who often conduct espionage in return for some degree of impunity from law-enforcement agencies.
The sources noted that the first photographs of the suspects had been released on the Internet at 8.21 p.m., while Mr. Lucman revealed their true identities less than an hour later— fuelling suspicion that the photographs might have been planted by Pakistan's own intelligence services to discredit the RAW.
{Note the time line. India releases the pics at 8:21pm ie night time. And Lucman reveals the 'truth' about ids one hour later ie ~ 9:21 pm. Now tie this with Butt and Butt googling and contacting Lucman. For petty shopkeepers they seem to be savvy Internet warriors who found the pics and contacted Lucman and confirmed to him thier story and he went to broadcast all with in one hour!!! Doesnt that seem too quick!
More likely as soon as India released the pics, the ISI contacted Lucman and let him spread the good cheer which Hindu because of its RNI or UBI status went to press!}
The New Delhi-based intelligence officials said the affair pointed to underlying problems in India's post-26/11 intelligence reforms — key among them, pressure to circulate information before it could be thoroughly corroborated. The intelligence was passed on to the Mumbai police through the Intelligence Bureau-run Multi-Agency Centre — the core of the proposed National Counter-Terrorism Centre — but its credibility does not appear to have been questioned by other agencies.
So here the officials are pushing their own pet peeves and Hindu is falling for it. Intelligence is information that has been assessed. Releaseing pics of suspect terrorists is not intelligence but information to help public safety. Matter of questioning the credibility of the information in order to prevent news reports like above is luxury that can't be taken. When you get info on terrorists planning an attack you need to take steps for public safety. There is no egg on your face on this account. Egg is on the face of those who criticise the agency for taking steps to protect the public. Again the one percent doctrine applies with respect to TSP and for ISI it is even less after 26/11 terrorist attack}
The intelligence debacle, the RAW's worst fiasco in years,{This takes the cake and shows the bias of the writers. 26/11 is a bigger fiasco. Alerting the city of Mumbai for terrorists who turned out to be petty shopkeepers and not glorified businessmen is hardly a fiasco. FBI arrest and releases many innocent people all the time. Read CNN} is the latest in a series of embarrassing intelligence failures, among them the listing of individuals held in Indian prisons in a government dossier on the alleged fugitives in Pakistan.
Though there was no corroboration of the threat from other agencies or communications intelligence, the Mumbai Police decided to make the information public. “The consensus,” an officer present at the meetings told The Hindu, “was that it was best to get the information we had out there, in the hope of at least embarrassing the ISI into calling off the operation. No one wanted to be accused of withholding information, in case something happened.”
“I guess it was a bad call,” he said.
{The poor guy has been browbeaten to admit this. Defending public safety based on information from the agencies is hardly a bad call. I thnk its bad taste for Hindu to write an article like this. I wish PS goes and sits at the feet of GK Reddy's picture/statue and learns how to get back the trust of the readers.}
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
I think the handler is to blame here. I am hearing that the same source had fed incorrect info before. Sorry, but every handler should do more to verify the source and all this info should be reviewed by the desk guys. But I guess one could say better be safe than sorry. Intel receives a lot crap, it's down to the analyst to sift through.
IB and maharashtra police did the right thing which was to raise an alert.
You can bet that source will probably stay in TSP as police would be waiting to throw him in jail.
ISI can say they had a victory here if they fed disinformation to embarrass RAW
IB and maharashtra police did the right thing which was to raise an alert.
You can bet that source will probably stay in TSP as police would be waiting to throw him in jail.
ISI can say they had a victory here if they fed disinformation to embarrass RAW
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Nice critique ramana sir! Most Indians will tolerate false alarms if these may help prevent an actual strike.
Indian media should be more responsible and not blame R&AW for passing on a time-sensitive information to the concerned authorities (Yes, even if the intelligence is not credible it is the right thing to do).
Dear R&AW, take this in your stride and redouble your efforts on Pakis western border. I hear they are pretty paranoid over there.
Indian media should be more responsible and not blame R&AW for passing on a time-sensitive information to the concerned authorities (Yes, even if the intelligence is not credible it is the right thing to do).
Dear R&AW, take this in your stride and redouble your efforts on Pakis western border. I hear they are pretty paranoid over there.

Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
I was also informed that foreign intel is targeting children of senior ministers. One senior UPA minister threw his son out of the house because they tried to use the boy to soften up daddy.
These kids of ministers are usually F d up involved in drugs alcohol parties, no respect for the law or people
These kids of ministers are usually F d up involved in drugs alcohol parties, no respect for the law or people
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Special intelligence unit to keep eye on Naxals in Mumbai
The city police have formed a special intelligence unit to tackle the Naxal menace in Mumbai.
Till now, the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) and the anti-Naxalite operation wing of the state police were dealing with Naxalites. However, this new unit will report to the police commissioner and provide information to other agencies. The unit will be part of the special branch which is supposed to collect intelligence for the city police. Sources in the security establishment said while the ATS and other agencies looked at Naxal cases, there was no dedicated wing in the Mumbai police to tackle Naxals. A senior police officer said since three Naxals were arrested from Dombivili this year and another was nabbed from the Mumbai Railway Hospital quarters, the city is turning into a hub for Naxals.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Naxals in Mumbai.
Some thing is not right.
Some thing is not right.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Who all are bankrolling Naxals?ramana wrote:Naxals in Mumbai.
Some thing is not right.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Crime is a big factor, extortion, Drugs , corporates - via CSR, paying off to stop maoists from causing trouble. Robbing police stations - stealing weapons and stores.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BOTH POSTS ABOVE ARE ABSOLUTELY TRUEAcharya wrote:When nationalism is removed from the education and media this is what happens. This is long process and take ove 50-100 years to achaive this.darshhan wrote: The true issue is that Indians lack pride in themselves , have no faith in their own capabilities and as a consequence suffer from a weak character .
Someone with authority should ensure this is altered. For far too long Indians have been allowed to think they are inferior, inferior first to the west, and now to the Chinese
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Recently some european (German or French ?) folks were deported for having some unsavory contact with the Naxals and now this.Home Ministry protests visit of eight European Union envoys' visit to Nagaland: NDTV
I'm unable to understand the reasoning behind all this.
Let me be candid here and ask the damn question - Are these western europeans providing monetary support to the insurgents? Or is it that we do not want foreigners to know the mess we have in these areas?
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
It was a joint secretary in cabinet secretariat that leaked the VKS letter. Director IB named and shamed the individual. Good job. Cab sec is under MMS . Media was blaming VKS for the leaking. Disgraceful.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Perhaps some terrorist organizations are not recognized as terrorist organizations in these countries. So it is all not illegal at all for these Europeans. Guess these first world people may have strong political connections.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Kargil Review Committee
I wonder if this includes intel reforms? Didnt KRC talk about Intelligence too? Can any guru comment on this?The Report of the Group of Ministers on National Security constituted on the basis of the Kargil Review Committee report had six chapters. The Ministry of Defence had been nominated as the nodal Ministry for the Chapter VI, on 'Management of Defence'. The Chapter contains 75 recommendations, of which 63 recommendations have been implemented. Action on four recommendations is in progress. Eight recommendations of Chapter VI relate to the establishment of Chief of Defence Staff. A decision on this matter will be taken after completion of the ongoing consultations with political parties.
The HQ Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) has been created to enhance jointness and build synergy amongst the Armed Forces, including in the areas of Long Term Plans, force capabilities, joint training, intelligence, capital acquisition, joint doctrines, etc. The Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC) has been created to exercise command and control over tri-Service and Coast Guard assets deployed in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Joint exercises/operations are carried out from time to time.
This information was given by Minister of Defence Shri A K Antony in a written reply to Shri ArjunMeghwal in Lok Sabha today.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
75-63= 12 out of which 8 relate to CDS.
So what do the remaining 4 relate to?
So what do the remaining 4 relate to?
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Essential reading.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47412674/ ... 7LnIWsXGZU
Learn the secrets of espionage in ‘The Art of Intelligence’
Henry Crumpton served 24 years as an undercover officer, led hunt for Osama bin Laden
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47412674/ ... 7LnIWsXGZU
Learn the secrets of espionage in ‘The Art of Intelligence’
Henry Crumpton served 24 years as an undercover officer, led hunt for Osama bin Laden
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
China threat: Govt reviews security of Dalai Lama
Terror Games
Shishir Gupta, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, May 15, 2012
Email to Author
After the Dalai Lama went public on the Chinese threat to his life, New Delhi has quietly undertaken a security review and asked the Tibetan government-in-exile to upgrade the security of His Holiness, with concurrent instructions to the Himachal police.
Last Sunday, the Dalai Lama
had told an English newspaper that he could be poisoned by a female Chinese agent through touch while seeking his blessings.
Talking to Hindustan Times, Nodup, security minister for the government-in-exile, confirmed that a threat assessment of the Dalai Lama had been carried out, and his security upgraded after his latest statement.
“We have decided to upgrade his security, both while travelling abroad and at Dharamshala,” said Nodup, stating that the Tibetan spiritual leader was currently on a trip to Europe and would be back by May-end.
When asked how credible was this threat against the Dalai Lama, Nodup said that some months ago, an input was received from Tibet about a possible assassination attempt on the spiritual leader. Beijing, however, has trashed the theory.
While Indian agencies also do not have any credible input on the Chinese trying to target the Dalai Lama, they do not want to take chances and have ordered a review of his security. The matter, incidentally, has not been brought before the high-powered committee in the home ministry.
While the Dalai Lama’s inner security cordon comprises highly trained Tibetan security guards, the outer periphery at Dharamshala is handled by a team of 70 Himachal Pradesh commandos, headed by an additional SP from the CID. Besides this, visitors and guests of the Dalai Lama are screened by trained security experts in mufti.
Terror Games
Already beleaguered and wracked by infighting, India’s external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) has been a subject of much mirth in the sub-continent this month after the five Pakistanis it identified as infiltrating terrorists turned out to small time businessmen and a security guard from Lahore.
The RAW bosses are now at their wits end to explain the faux pas as it stands accused of poor due diligence and general incompetence.
Fact is that the RAW got photographs of the five so called terrorists on May 2 from a credible source, who identified them as Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) cadres with mission to hit India. Concurrently, there was credible input from foreign agencies that LeT was out to target three vital installations in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab. The five photographs were discussed between the RAW representative and Intelligence Bureau sleuths the same evening as the latter was not convinced about the antecedents of the five persons.
On that day, the Indian agencies had the following inputs:
* Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Reliance Refinery at Jamnagar and HPCL-Mittal Refinery were targets of LeT terrorists as the proscribed group had not only conducted research of these strategic sites on the internet but also conducted area reconnaissance.
* Threat from LeT had gone up as photograph of one of the five identified terrorists was found super-imposed on an old (expired) Gujarat state driving license. This forged license was handed over to Indian agencies by the same source.
While the IB was still skeptical about the five photographs as they could not corroborate the ground, the RAW was very confident about its input as terror attack appeared imminent.
On May 3, a high powered group headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram with National Security Advisor Shiv Shanker Menon, Home Secretary Raj Singh, RAW Chief Sanjeev Tripathi and Director IB Nehchal Sandhu met to discuss the threat. Even if it is now established that it was Pakistani ISI which baited the RAW with false information, Home Minister P Chidambaram had no option that day except to raise a nation wide alert and disseminate the photographs to state police through the established multi-agency centre under the IB.
After the 26/11 massacre in Mumbai, no Home Minister or Intelligence chief wants to hold back inputs and there is no bar on mobile vendors and security guards to be active members of LeT terror group. Even if the five persons in the photograph are innocent, the fact is that India is under serious threat from the jihadists from within and those based in Pakistan. The intriguing aspect is the alacrity with which the information reached the four mobile vendors and one security guard in Lahore within hours after it was released by MAC to the state police in India.
Rather than blaming RAW for this fiasco, Home Minister P Chidambaram took it upon himself on the decision to disseminate photographs to the state police. For Chidambaram it was a collective decision of the high powered group to disseminate the photographs among the state police as well as place the three vital installations on red alert. But the Indian agencies chose to absolve themselves by blaming the other through articles in media.
Given the fact that LeT terror apparatus is intact in Pakistan, Indian intelligence agencies need have synergy with each other rather than fights as the only beneficiary in the latter case is the mentor agency of Lashkar in Pakistan.
The photograph fiasco actually highlights the need for RAW to increase its coverage of Pakistan so that it has the capacity to independently verify intel on ground. No point blaming the MAC under IB for sharing the information with the state police without verification. The fact is that RAW should have build up the intel on ground before asking MAC to share it with Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab police.
The flip side, however, is that counter-terrorism and intelligence are 24X7 games for countries and you win some you lose some. The RAW fumbled on photographs but managed to foil a terror attack in Chandini Chowk and provided vital clues in the Iranian Quds inspired attack on Israeli diplomat in February this year.
Rather than being defensive, Home Secretary Raj Kumar Singh should take up the issue of threat from Lashkar amir Hafiz Saeed with his Pakistani counterpart next week during the bilateral home secretary level dialogue.
One must understand that Indian hinterland has been free from terror since September 7, 2011 Delhi High Court blast. Home Minister and Indian agencies should be allowed one mistake.![]()
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
I dont like the tome of the article. Its not a mistake to alert your forces to deter a terrorist attack. The writer is having it both ways.
BTW the new info in the article is that there were two sets of inputs:
Pictures five suspects from TSP, including one on a state driver license- In hindsight looks like planted by TSP. Fact that the suspects were alerted within an hour shows coordination.
The other inputs on the target list. Where did this come from?
Were these also in cahoots with the TSP?
Or were those regular alerts?
All that India can be alert about is that info from TSP can be disinformation spread by the official agency there.
BTW the new info in the article is that there were two sets of inputs:
Pictures five suspects from TSP, including one on a state driver license- In hindsight looks like planted by TSP. Fact that the suspects were alerted within an hour shows coordination.
The other inputs on the target list. Where did this come from?
Note plural for sources.Concurrently, there was credible input from foreign agencies that LeT was out to target three vital installations in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab.
Were these also in cahoots with the TSP?
Or were those regular alerts?
All that India can be alert about is that info from TSP can be disinformation spread by the official agency there.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
The blog post seems confused. If the author had just highlighted the details of the inner workings of this terror threat & kept his opinions out, the article would seem more coherent.
I would blame repeated PMOs starting with Gujral for RAW's handicap. Cant tie someone's right hand and blame him for not fighting effectively. I dont know how many other covert activities & capacity building measures have been curtailed due to blue turban's kiss-fest with the pakis.
I would blame repeated PMOs starting with Gujral for RAW's handicap. Cant tie someone's right hand and blame him for not fighting effectively. I dont know how many other covert activities & capacity building measures have been curtailed due to blue turban's kiss-fest with the pakis.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Won't tolerate censorship, warns Anonymous after hacking Supreme Court site
Though, this is a timely reminder of something else we should focus on - India must develop the requisite cyber infrastructure and focus more on cyber security. I heard some panelist say in Washington the other day that the blitzkrieging by China for which India is doing its own miilitary build up, might not even come in the form of a ground offensive. It is more likely to be a cyber offensive or may be an air campaign. We must watch out for Chinese in the cyber dimension, they've even frustrated the Americans by their cyber "activities".
I visited both of them and they seem to be doing fine.
New Delhi: Hacker group "Anonymous" has brought down the websites of the Supreme Court and the Congress party.
The hacking is reportedly to protest against file-sharing websites like Vimeo. "We cannot let censorship happen..Operation India engaged," says an audio message posted on the websites by the hackers. (Hear message posted by Anonymous, warns "Operation India engaged")
Internet Service Provides like BSNL, MTNL, Airtel and others have all blocked the sites, reportedly in response to an order from the Department of Telecom.
Though, this is a timely reminder of something else we should focus on - India must develop the requisite cyber infrastructure and focus more on cyber security. I heard some panelist say in Washington the other day that the blitzkrieging by China for which India is doing its own miilitary build up, might not even come in the form of a ground offensive. It is more likely to be a cyber offensive or may be an air campaign. We must watch out for Chinese in the cyber dimension, they've even frustrated the Americans by their cyber "activities".
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Slain terrorist Merah planned to attack Indian embassy in Paris
Mohamed Merah, the terrorist who was shot dead by the French Special Forces in Toulouse on March 22, had also planned to attack the Indian Embassy in Paris, French daily Le Monde reported.
Quoting sources from the Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence and the Special Forces who took part in the 32-hour siege of Merah, Le Monde alleges that the young killer's Taliban handlers in Pakistan had ordered him to attack the Indian mission here. “That was the target given him by the Taliban who prepared him for jihad during his training in Pakistan in the summer of 2011,” Le Monde reported. However, the paper says, Merah finally decided against the attack, given the difficulty of the enterprise.
...
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Political-bureaucrat nexus is not ready to allow the development of 'thinking culture' in civil intelligence agencies . They fear it more than anything else for we all know why . All MAC do is like a collection & forward depot for mails & making an entry for mail delivered & stuff like that . There's no analysis like in field of strategic risk management , its not absence of trained manpower but complete distrust . Nothing tells more about the sorry state of analysis in our intelligence agencies then this : country's HM & internal intel chief discussing/analyzing the perceived 'threat' based on five photographs & related information . Contrast this with IA's ODA loop in time of Kargil War onset . Imagine Gen. Malik sitting with DM and discussing whether the bunker on hill is a threat or not for a start & everyone down below waiting & being kept in dark .
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That's true Satya ji. It's clear as daylight. SPS should resolve this? And I think Pakistan desk head should take some blame too as ultimately it's his responsibility
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Shyamjee
It seems handbook on how to tackle a potential terror threat & input has not been written or forgotten . SPS to my understanding has been formed for one to carry on the legacy of late Sh. K S jee ie to study evolving global trends & their effect on India. The french jihadi -TSP connection is something to study by SPS . SPS's main task is not action but inputs-advise-formation- feedback the policy loop . On actual field action , i hope at most its an observer only anything more will be khichdi last thing we need now .
Someone need to brief media in clear terms what's expected of them on use of information related to terror threat & same to state police . This micro-management show is no good for one of the following is true : 1) GoI has been scared via external sources of an impending bigger than 26/11 attack serving their own agendas. ( check out the defense deal timeline for one & their relation with such terror threat or foiled attempts) . 2) there's such a dearth of information coming from TSP on terror front that every tip is considered worthy of a mini CCS meeting 3) MHA's media advisor taking his role a bit too seriously to project Chiddu as man to serve & to protect but whom ?
On issue of Pak desk ideally they should been consulted but what to do with mine is bigger problem . They got so blinded that not even a single person right up to MHA & IB didn't question how they got passport size photographs or they fall for photographer or clerk in govt. office my friend/ on my payroll something like that .
It seems handbook on how to tackle a potential terror threat & input has not been written or forgotten . SPS to my understanding has been formed for one to carry on the legacy of late Sh. K S jee ie to study evolving global trends & their effect on India. The french jihadi -TSP connection is something to study by SPS . SPS's main task is not action but inputs-advise-formation- feedback the policy loop . On actual field action , i hope at most its an observer only anything more will be khichdi last thing we need now .
Someone need to brief media in clear terms what's expected of them on use of information related to terror threat & same to state police . This micro-management show is no good for one of the following is true : 1) GoI has been scared via external sources of an impending bigger than 26/11 attack serving their own agendas. ( check out the defense deal timeline for one & their relation with such terror threat or foiled attempts) . 2) there's such a dearth of information coming from TSP on terror front that every tip is considered worthy of a mini CCS meeting 3) MHA's media advisor taking his role a bit too seriously to project Chiddu as man to serve & to protect but whom ?
On issue of Pak desk ideally they should been consulted but what to do with mine is bigger problem . They got so blinded that not even a single person right up to MHA & IB didn't question how they got passport size photographs or they fall for photographer or clerk in govt. office my friend/ on my payroll something like that .
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
India and the fight for the Rose Garden
Instead of succumbing to false hopes of peace, India must consider the adverse consequences of withdrawing from the Siachen glacier
:
The problem is: this is hardly a solution. India wants the existing positions of the two countries in that area recorded. If this is not done and the procedure listed above is followed, it will fritter away its only advantage: its physical occupation of the Saltoro ridge. Pakistan rejects any demarcation of existing positions as it feels this will bestow a “legal” right on India to claim this territory. The farthest it has gone towards agreeing with India is agree to record the ground positions on a map—to be included as an annexure in an agreement—while the text of the agreement continues to spell extant claims.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Guys,
One of the India's famous spy masters Maloy Krishna Dhar Passed away today evening. I just got a call from his son. I'll be posting his last message on his website maloykrishnadhar.com in a day or two.
My his soul rest in peace.
One of the India's famous spy masters Maloy Krishna Dhar Passed away today evening. I just got a call from his son. I'll be posting his last message on his website maloykrishnadhar.com in a day or two.
My his soul rest in peace.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Bhagwan Unki Atmaan Ko Shanti de.chackojoseph wrote:Guys,
One of the India's famous spy masters Maloy Krishna Dhar Passed away today evening. I just got a call from his son. I'll be posting his last message on his website maloykrishnadhar.com in a day or two.
My his soul rest in peace.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Wow what a loss. Truly an intelligence hero. His book India's Intelligence Unveiled was exceptional.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
CJ please pass on our condolence from all of us at BR to his family. A big loss for the country. I still have his books on my shelf... True patriot RIP
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Satya jii ... Thanks. IMO - my observation of arab intelligence services - they report one thing using their techniques and pass on to decision maker. The strategist taking into consideration regional situation/history provides advice which can sometimes be starkly different to what the intel agency is saying. Then decision maker makes the decision. I think SPS should be performing this role of providing advise.satya wrote:Shyamjee
It seems handbook on how to tackle a potential terror threat & input has not been written or forgotten . SPS to my understanding has been formed for one to carry on the legacy of late Sh. K S jee ie to study evolving global trends & their effect on India. The french jihadi -TSP connection is something to study by SPS . SPS's main task is not action but inputs-advise-formation- feedback the policy loop . On actual field action , i hope at most its an observer only anything more will be khichdi last thing we need now .
Someone need to brief media in clear terms what's expected of them on use of information related to terror threat & same to state police . This micro-management show is no good for one of the following is true : 1) GoI has been scared via external sources of an impending bigger than 26/11 attack serving their own agendas. ( check out the defense deal timeline for one & their relation with such terror threat or foiled attempts) . 2) there's such a dearth of information coming from TSP on terror front that every tip is considered worthy of a mini CCS meeting 3) MHA's media advisor taking his role a bit too seriously to project Chiddu as man to serve & to protect but whom ?
On issue of Pak desk ideally they should been consulted but what to do with mine is bigger problem . They got so blinded that not even a single person right up to MHA & IB didn't question how they got passport size photographs or they fall for photographer or clerk in govt. office my friend/ on my payroll something like that .
Thanks for the inputs - Very interesting. Any specific deal you are referring to - Apache?
I agree with you - no point in having a mini CCS meeting for every input and highly inefficient.
---------------------------------
Double success:
Thailand: India foils Pak bid to ‘grab’ Dawood aide
India gave US coke trailAbhishek Sharan, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, May 14, 2012
Email to Author
India has foiled Pakistan’s bid to secure the custody of Muzakkir Sayyed alias Munna ‘Jinga’, a Mumbai-born aide of fugitive Indian don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, from Thailand.
Sayyed, a sharpshooter, had led an attack on rival don Chhota Rajan in Bangkok in September
2000.
The 10-year jail term of Sayyed, who was housed at a Bangkok prison facility after being convicted for orchestrating the attack on Rajan, ended recently. Pakistani diplomats, allegedly armed with fake documents and passport details of Sayyed that identified him as a citizen of their country, had contacted their counterparts in Thailand a few weeks ago - while he was still incarcerated in a Bangkok prison facility — to “grab him”, said a CBI official on the condition of anonymity.
“Pakistani officials told Thai authorities that Sayyed was a Pakistani citizen — on the basis of papers submitted by them, including a fake passport created after his flight to Karachi from Mumbai in 1999 — and demanded that he be deported to their country as per Thailand laws,” said the official.
It was suspected that Sayyed and five other members of the team, which attacked Rajan on Dawood’s orders, had allegedly received training and logistical help from the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Incidentally, the ISI is also suspected to have sponsored the don’s stay and activities since his orchestration of the March 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.
Alerted by the Indian embassy in Bangkok and the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), the CBI scrambled to halt Pakistan’s attempts to take Sayyed with them in the nick of time.
“The Thai authorities had already accepted the Pakistani position. But we challenged their contention and got the deportation stayed,” the official said.
“Thailand is likely to deport Sayyed to India soon,” said the official, “But Pakistan is cagey about India getting hold of Sayyed because he can divulge details on how its agencies had abetted the attack on Rajan, which was an act of international terrorism.”
May 17, 2012 - Rajnish Sharma |
Hard, credible evidence provided by Indian intelligence agencies to the United States that Dawood Ibrahim’s key aides Chhota Shakeel and Tiger Memon were actively pumping in high-quality cocaine into the American market compelled the US treasury department to declare the two as narcotics smugglers and impose sanctions against them.
Sources involved in compiling the evidence against Shakeel and Memon indicated that the duo could well be the single biggest suppliers of cocaine to the United States.
The dossier provided by Indian agencies to the US has details on how Shakeel and Memon were supplying cocaine to US drug syndicates through a vast network of associates in South Asia, West Asia and Africa. It also contains details on how funds from cocaine sales are being used by the “D Company” for terror strikes in India and Afghanistan.
Highly-placed government sources said New Delhi was trying for over a year to convince Washington that it was in the interests of America’s own national security to impose sanctions against Shakeel and Memon.
“A lot of effort has gone into this for the last one year. It was only after the US was totally convinced with evidence provided by India and realising how badly their own country was affected by this narcotics trade that they went ahead with imposing sanctions against the two criminals,” a senior Indian intelligence official said.
This means no American company or individual can now have business dealings with Shakeel and Memon, and all their assets in the United States have been frozen with immediate affect.
New Delhi has welcomed the US move, and asked “those countries harbouring them to bring them to justice”.
The Indian agencies also provided details of how the Dawood gang was smuggling high-grade heroin to Western Europe, particularly through Africa. “While the United States is a huge market for cocaine, in Europe it’s heroin that is in high demand,” the official said.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
I will definitely do that.shyamd wrote:CJ please pass on our condolence from all of us at BR to his family. A big loss for the country. I still have his books on my shelf... True patriot RIP
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
What? He wasnt that old, I didnt think.chackojoseph wrote:Guys,
One of the India's famous spy masters Maloy Krishna Dhar Passed away today evening. I just got a call from his son. I'll be posting his last message on his website maloykrishnadhar.com in a day or two.
My his soul rest in peace.
One couldnt always agree with his views, but there was no questioning the fact that he was a patriot. Something that can scarcely be said of some in todays bureaucracy and government services. Rest in Peace, Sir!
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
He was born in July 1938. I'll will post an overview on him. I am still writing up the press statement for sending it to rest of the media.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Bad apples in IB, RAW are making mockery of govt
Satya Ji confirms what you said.In a major goof up, an intelligence alert about a possible strike by Pakistani terrorists was found to be false. The Pakistani nationals were discovered to be businessmen.
MADHAV NALAPAT NEW DELHI | 20th May
Home Minister P. Chidambaram shakes hands with J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at the meeting of Chief Ministers on NCTC, in New Delhi earlier this month. PTI
week ago, Indian security agencies issued an alert warning of terror strikes by Pakistani individuals whose names and photographs were made available to the media. Even while congratulations were pouring in on the sleuthing done by the IB and RAW, the supposed terrorists turned out to be petty businesspersons in Pakistan. Thus far, there has been no sign of any effort at fixing responsibility on just why the Counter-terrorism Group at the Home Ministry failed to check its facts before releasing information.
Because of the avoidance of public accountability that characterises security agencies in India the public has remained in the dark about the sequence of events that led to the goof-up. What is the reason for the cover-up, why even the Pakistan desk of RAW was kept out of the loop when innocent names got outed as terrorists planning an imminent strike?
Those following developments say that the reason lies in the closeness of several key IB and RAW officers with the politically influential, and using the latter as sources for information, much of which turns out to be misleading. The Pakistani names in question were, according to sources in the UAE, "revealed by a source in Dubai who was introduced to Indian intelligence personnel by an individual with strong political connections". Because of the influence wielded by this person, the information given by the newfound source was uncritically accepted. Although a check on the persons named by the source was carried out by the Lahore station of intelligence agencies,having been informed of the high-level Indian contacts of the Dubai source, the officer doing the fact check merely rubber-stamped the report sans any enquiry. Those dealing with the penetration of agencies by hostile aliens say that the likelihood is high that the source was himself an ISI plant, whose task it was to give wrong information that would, when released, show up the incompetence of Indian security agencies. These sources say that all too often, "influential individuals from India come in contact with undercover ISI operatives in Dubai and London, thereby compromising national security".
Is it to protect the influential individual who — sources claim — introduced the renegade source to the Dubai station that the entire matter has been hushed up, with orders given to cover up the sequence of events that led to the fiasco?
Last week's fiasco over the Pakistani names and photographs underlines the need for a clean-up of Indian security agencies.
Officers say that Home Minister P. Chidambaram has "politicised the security agencies, in contrast to Shivraj Patil, who never sought to carry forward a political agenda via the IB". This accusation is denied by those close to the Home Minister, who claim that he has been responsible for a "massive improvement in the functioning of the agencies under him". A source claims that "an offer of a governorship has been made to the present IB director, so as to motivate him to carry out his duties in a manner that is politically advantageous to his patrons". However, those close to DIB Nehchal Sandhu say that such a charge is unfair, and that the IB has remained "100% apolitical" during his watch.
Another organisation where several reports of alleged misfeasance have been cropping up is the Aviation Research Service (ARC). Those within the organisation say that its chief till recently, A.B. Mathur, wanted to launch a comprehensive enquiry into at least three deals, the first involving the purchase and fitting of aircraft for special purposes, the next involving the purchase of parachutes from an obscure supplier at inflated prices, and the third involving the purchase of technical systems. They claim that "higher levels dissuaded Mathur from pursuing his demand for a full enquiry, as they know that political protectees (i.e. officers enjoying high-level patronage) are involved in these scams". Mathur is due to leave on a UN mission for Kosovo by the month-end, his objective of cleaning up ARC (where a particular officer is even known to his colleagues as "Mr Ten Per Cent") unfulfilled. Even the NTRO, which deals in activities that are wholly technical, has been subjected to allegations of graft and impropriety, and once again, there has been very little effort at fixing responsibility via an enquiry.
Officers pushing for accountability are hoping that the PMO will take the initiative in conducting a comprehensive in-house enquiry, especially into ARC transactions that don't pass the smell test. "The bad apples in IB, NTRO, ARC and RAW need to be removed. However, their political patrons are blocking action," an officer concluded.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
chackojoseph wrote:He was born in July 1938. I'll will post an overview on him. I am still writing up the press statement for sending it to rest of the media.
Thanks for the effort. But please do double check for spelling and grammar. He is beyond retraction.
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Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Damn. Truly a great loss.chackojoseph wrote:Guys,
One of the India's famous spy masters Maloy Krishna Dhar Passed away today evening. I just got a call from his son. I'll be posting his last message on his website maloykrishnadhar.com in a day or two.
My his soul rest in peace.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
Indian Army’s unpaid spy dies in oblivion - British-born Sydney Wignall discovered the secrets of China’s expansion across Tibet to the borders of India and Nepal
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120530/main6.htm
India never forgets its enemies, but sometimes has difficulty remembering its friends like the recently deceased British mountaineer who risked his life to gather information about China’s military build-up in the Himalayas.
Sadly, New Delhi has ignored the death of Cheshire-born Sydney Wignall who died a few weeks ago in the UK at the age of 89. A British-born hero and unpaid spy of the Indian Army, he used both brains and brawn to discover the secrets of China’s expansion across Tibet to the borders of India and Nepal.
Wignall suffered frost bite, dysentery and regular beatings at the hands of Chinese army guards during his two-month incarceration in a rat-infested prison in Tibet. After his release, he received profuse thanks from his Indian Army contacts for the valuable data he obtained. But the only ‘reward’ he claimed and obtained was a supply of cricket bats and balls for the children of a Nepalese village school that he visited on his way to Tibet.
In 1955, seven years before the Indian Army’s disastrous rout at the hands of Chinese forces, Cheshire-born Sydney Wignall was inspired to lead a Welsh Himalayan Expedition to try and climb the 25,355-foot-high Gurla Mandhata peak in Western Tibet.
Sponsored by the Liverpool Daily Post newspaper and Life magazine, the ostensible objective of the team was to place the flags of Wales and the Chinese Republic on the Gurla Mandhata summit.
Unbeknown to his fellow climbers, however, Wignall had also agreed to gather information for the Indian Army intelligence worried about China’s secret military build up in what was then the autonomous region of Tibet.
Although he and his fellow climber John Harrop, together with their Nepalese liaison officer Damodar Narayan Suwal, were captured soon after they crossed the ill-defined Nepalese border, the information that Wignall collected was the equivalent of intelligence gold dust.
It was gratefully received and analysed by his Indian Army contact, Lieut-Col ‘Baij’ Mehta, who was later killed during the Chinese invasion of Arunachel Pradesh in 1962. It was passed on to an equally grateful Gen KS Thimayya, who later became India’s Chief of Army Staff. He tried and failed to persuade Jawaharlal Nehru of China’s aggressive intentions.
Tellingly, Wignall subsequently had little time for Indian politicians, especially Krishna Menon, who allowed their communist sympathies to blind them to Beijing’s aim of dominating South Asia.
Wignall had met Menon many years earlier in London in 1940, seven years before Independence, when India’s future defence minister and other fellow left-wing activists toed the Soviet Union’s then policy of avoiding confrontation with Adolph Hitler. Menon called 18-year-old Wignall ‘impertinent’ and Wignall formed the impression that Menon was ‘vain, arrogant and conceited.” He called him ‘A thoroughly detestable man.’
Wignall’s Indian heroes were the likes of Gen Thimayya, Col Mehta and Brig John Dalvi, who, in 1962, had only 2,700 soldiers under his command to resist a Chinese division of 12,000 that swept down on him from the Thagla Ridge in what was then known as the North East Frontier Agency or NEFA.
Brigadier Dalvi’s 7th Brigade, which ran out of ammunition, suffered 90 per cent casualties. Those who survived the immediate onslaught died overnight because they had not been supplied with adequate tents, sleeping bags or warm winter clothing. Brigadier Dalvi himself was captured and tortured. A broken man when he was released, he died a few years later much before his time.
It was while he was preparing for his Himalayan expedition in 1955 that Wignall made contact with a retired Indian Army officer, one Lieut-Col Toby Tobin, who was then the vice-president of the Himalayan Club and editor of the Himalayan Journal. Tobin told him, “You might be able to do some friends a favour” before introducing him to a contact called ‘Singh’ at the Indian High Commission in London.
What followed thereafter was like something out of a John Buchan novel. Singh briefed Wignall about the bellicose statements that some Chinese generals had been making about territorial claims to large parts of Northern India, Nepal, Sikkim and Burma. For that reason the Indian military authorities were interested in rumours of China’s intention of building a military highway in west Tibet, close to the sacred lake of Mansarowar.
“You happen to be the only one visiting what to us is the most sensitive area in the whole border region,” Singh explained. “From a vantage point on the north-west ridge of Gurla Mandhata you would be able to see, with a telescope, any sign of a military encampment in that area, and you could look for evidence of the building of that military highway to west Tibet.”
Supplied with maps provided by the British War office, Wignall and his team soon embarked on their 6,500-mile trip from London to the borders of India, Nepal and Tibet. Within days of crossing into Tibet from the Khatang Pass, however, the three lead members of the team were arrested for illegally crossing into Chinese territory.
For the next two months they were held in freezing, rat-infested rooms and interrogated by a team led by Gen Chang Kuo-hua, the military commander of Tibet. These were hard-line party supporters, very different from the likes of 21st century Chinese communist VIPS like millionaire Bo Xilai who had his son Bo Guagua educated at Harrow, Oxford and Harvard.
General Chang was made of much sterner stuff. His minions beat up and abused the British mountaineers, subjecting them to mock executions and telling them, “You intended disguising your illegal armed invasion of China so that the Tibetans would not know you are agents of a foreign power, Western Fascist Lackey Imperial Running Dogs.”
Wignall himself was told, “Sign the confession that you are a Western Fascist Lackey Imperialist Running Dog of the American CIA and we will be very good to you. Otherwise you will be severely punished.”
Although they were under close surveillance during their captivity, Wignall and his friends were able to extract vital information, both from their interrogators and from some of the more friendly guards.
In what was then the pre-satellite age, Wignall managed to accurately estimate the strength of the secret Chinese army base at Jitkot, 17 miles from Tklakot close to the Nepal border. More importantly he was able to gauge that China’s strategic highway from Lhasa would reach Tklakot within the next two years. And from General Chang he heard how Beijing laid claim to India’s Aksai Chin and NEFA regions, as well as parts of Nepal, Kashmir, all of Sikkim, all of Bhutan and parts of northern Burma.
Much of what Wignall discovered was confirmed and reconfirmed before, during and after the 1962 Chinese invasion of India. He himself neither asked for, nor was given any form of compensation by the authorities in India.
Wignall did brief members of the British Foreign Office about his adventures when he returned to London, but his main satisfaction was extracted from the belief that he had taken high risks for the right reasons. In later years he became an underwater archaeologist, uncovering wrecks in British, Portugese and Panamanian waters. A handful of Indians may still remember both his affection for the country and his perilous exploits in the Himalayas. For them he remains a much-loved friend of Mother India.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120530/main6.htm
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Korea.html
this is curious stuff- but IMVHO sterling intel work.
excerpts:
and here is the pious denial
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Korea.html
excerpts
this is curious stuff- but IMVHO sterling intel work.
excerpts:
US and South Korean special forces have been parachuting into North Korea to gather intelligence about underground military installations, according to a senior US officer.
"The entire tunnel infrastructure is hidden from our satellites," Gen Tolley said. "So we send (South Korean) soldiers and US soldiers to the North to do special reconnaissance."
"After 50 years, we still don't know much about the capability and full extent" of the underground facilities," he said, in comments reported by the National Defense Industrial Association's magazine on its website.
Gen Tolley said the commandos were sent in with minimal equipment to facilitate their movements and minimize the risk of detection by North Korean forces.
and here is the pious denial
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Korea.html
excerpts
The United States military has denied reports attributed to the head of its special forces in South Korea that his men have been parachuted into North Korea to gather intelligence on the regime's network of underground military facilities.
spokesman for US forces in South Korea has dismissed the media report.
"Some reporting has taken great liberal licence with his comments and taken him completely out of context," Colonel Jonathan Withington, of the public affairs office of US Forces Korea, said in a statement.
"No US or ROK (Republic of Korea) forces have parachuted into North Korea," he said. "Though special reconnaissance is a core special operations force mission, at no time have SOF forces been sent to the north to conduct special reconnaissance.
Re: Intelligence & National Security Discussion
A place of study for India's scholar-soldiers
Arjun Subramaniam
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THE FUTURE: ‘I am not decrying the need for operational excellence, but we need to find a way to generate more scholarship in the armed forces,’ was K. Subrahmanyam’s argument. Photo: The Hindu Photo Library
THE FUTURE: ‘I am not decrying the need for operational excellence, but we need to find a way to generate more scholarship in the armed forces,’ was K. Subrahmanyam’s argument. Photo: The Hindu Photo Library
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The best way to carry forward master strategist K. Subrahmanyam's vision is to establish a world-class Indian National Defence University
Not many from my generation of soldiers and scholars who were born in the 1960s, had the opportunity to interact and learn from the late K. Subrahmanyam, unarguably, the father of modern Indian strategy.
I am not about to sing the praises of him simply because I am not qualified to do so, and also because eminent people like Air Cmde Jasjit Singh and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Shivshankar Menon have offered befitting tributes in various forms. Surprisingly, on the two occasions that I was privileged to meet the “master,” we spoke only about the proposed Indian National Defence University or INDU.
Our interactions
On the first occasion, I sought an audience from him as a PhD candidate at the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC). I wanted to pick his brains on the changing nature of warfare and on my hypothesis that irrespective of the nature of an adversary, air power had a role to play in coercion. He listened to me indulgently, endorsed my hypothesis and for some unfathomable reason, shifted the topic to that of the future of INDU. He told me about how his dream was to see INDU come up before he passed on; about how he worried that unless we focused on core issues we were likely to get overwhelmed by peripheral issues like what kind of a campus or infrastructure would it entail or who would be the president of the university or what would be the share of the various services in the organisational structure?
The core issue, which he so rightly pointed out, was whether we would be able to find the right people to teach, research and perpetuate a culture that nurtured independent strategic thought and supported the larger issues of multi-disciplinary national security. He signed off that session by asking me how many faculty members at DSSC at that time had a PhD. When I told him “none, but three of us are enrolled currently,” he impatiently brushed me off and said “not enough young man. I wonder how many among you will be willing to give up the prestige and status of your military ranks and devote yourself to professional military education and building intellectual capital within the national security establishment?”
However, he quickly added, “You know, I am not decrying the need for operational excellence, but we need to find a way to generate more scholarship in the armed forces.” To say that the encounter was a defining moment for me would be an understatement.
The second and last time that I met him was only for a short while during tea after a talk at the National Defence College. Even though he was indisposed, he made sure that he honoured his commitment to deliver his customary talk on “India's Nuclear Strategy.” When I met him, he did not recognise me, but his eyes lit up when I reminded him of our encounter at Wellington. “Yes! I remember,” he remarked and quipped in his traditionally acerbic style. “We are where we left off four years ago, aren't we?” I could only mumble “yes, Sir.”
INDU's moving force
While his achievements in the realm of nuclear strategy and as the architect of the Kargil Review Committee are widely known, not many know that he was also the moving force behind the initial concept paper of INDU, and the push he gave to the whole proposal in terms of converting it from concept into reality. If we want to honour the legacy of modern India's foremost strategist, I think it is time we take a close look at whether we are going about the process of building intellectual capacities in the right manner. Instead of mere number-crunching, we need to ascertain how many of the existing PhDs in the three services are capable of, and inclined to assume academic roles in various institutions under INDU. A rough estimate of the total no of PhDs would put the figure at around 35-50. Of these, barely 15-20 of them are actively pursuing scholarship by contributing regularly to professional and technical journals, something which is absolutely essential to assume faculty positions at institutions of repute. Many have degrees from universities that are not very well known for scholarly rigour and I do not think there is anyone who has a PhD from a global university — quite a sorry state for a country with such a large military as India has.
With the formation of INDU a few years away, we still have time to put our house in order. While creation of world-class infrastructure is important, unless we have the right faculty and content developers, we stand no chance of gaining world-class stature.
It would be pertinent to learn from the Air University's experience in the U.S. in the mid-1990s. Facing a crunch of PhDs on the faculty, the University's Air Command and Staff College lost its accreditation for award of a post-graduate degree until it made good the numbers. We need to identify potential faculty members and identify opportunities at home and abroad that will facilitate quality PhDs in reasonable time-frames. It is time we change gear on INDU — there can be no better way to carry forward K. Subrahmanyam's legacy than to create a truly world-class Indian National Defence University.
(The writer is Assistant Chief of Air Staff. The views expressed are his own.)