[Reader-list] Story about how the premier intelligence agency is being destroyed.

[Appu Esthose Suresh]

Enough is Enough!!



http://covert.co.in/cover.htm
 Issue 10, 1 October-14 October

THE [RAW] TRUTH



India's premier intelligence agency is being destroyed by suicidal
leadership and internal conflict, and no one seems to care. This report has
been put together on the basis of information provided anonymously



By A Special Correspondent



The murmurs have become a shout, but no one is listening. The Government has
decided to ignore the unrest that has built up to a crisis in India's prime
external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing [RAW].

The symptoms of a deep malaise have been evident. The flight of senior
operative Rabinder Singh to the United States in early May 2004 made the
headlines, but the Government put a tight lid on this episode, instituting a
formal case against him only recently, four years after the event, when it
was meaningless.

Singh had been caught sending hard information out and was placed under
surveillance. Shockingly, the surveillance was withdrawn from his residence
for reasons not explained, and Singh fled to Nepal from where he was taken
to the United States, where he lives with his family. The Government here is
aware of his whereabouts. Unconfirmed allegations that he was tipped off by
insiders, or his American minders, or both, continue to make the rounds, but
the agency has failed to pinpoint the source or even ask itself why Singh's
flight has not elicited a strong response and action.

The Rabinder Singh case also highlights the breakdown of the Counter
Intelligence Security Division [CIS], popularly known as "mole watchers".
His colleagues had detected a change in his lifestyle in the late Nineties,
with more parties and visits abroad. His sister was an employee of the US
Agency for International Development, but Singh's interaction with her was
not monitored by the CIS. The division did not scan the visits of senior RAW
officials holding sensitive posts to his house for lavish parties. Sources
said that apart from sending out hard information, Singh might also have
brought in other "moles" into the service, but little has been done on this
front. There are fears that these "moles" may still be around, and many
years later reach senior, more sensitive positions. Instead the Government,
at the time, rushed to close Singh's file, dismissing him from service in
the process. It registered a formal case against him only recently. Sources
pointed out that such punishment was "illusory" as it entailed forfeiture of
Singh's pension but blocked any further inquiry into his activities and the
long-term damage he might have inflicted on RAW.

A more worrisome indicator is, ironically enough, the appointment of the
present RAW chief, Ashok Chaturvedi. Passed over for promotion, with a
history of adverse ACRs [Annual Confidential Reports] he became chief at the
instance of Cabinet Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi last year. They are related.
National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan is known to be particularly
critical of Chaturvedi who has limited operational experience. The NSA has
admonished him at meetings in front of others. According to a RAW insider,
Narayanan once asked him to clean his mouth of tobacco while he was speaking
"incoherently" of the security challenges faced by India, at a closed door
meeting of top officials recently. Chaturvedi did so, and resumed speaking,
only to be told by the NSA that he was making more sense while his mouth was
full of tobacco. Despite this, Chaturvedi has been able to override internal
protests, accusations and petitions. Insiders admit that "This is baffling,
we really do not know what his clout is." Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is
even reported to have agreed to his removal at one stage, but soon after
changed his mind. The reasons for the somersault were not explained.
Chaturvedi, sources said, met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the matter
was referred to the NSA. No action has been taken against him, and he is all
set to complete his term in office, which ends in January 2009.

Chaturvedi is not popular with his colleagues, and has acquired the
reputation of being "extremely petty". He is also being credited within the
service of a certain "lack of preparation" in his interaction with other
departments. He is insecure in his post and plays favourites. He does not
allow free discussion within the organisation and is said to have helped
"perhaps more than others" in hastening the transition of RAW from an
"eclectic service to a babu organisation".

The third symptom is the more recent attempt by RAW director Nisha Bhatia to
commit suicide in protest against sexual harassment. Her initial case was
against Joint Secretary Sunil Uke who she claimed had offered her Rs 30,000
to sleep with him; but when she brought it to the notice of the RAW chief
she was allegedly told to "keep quiet and accept the situation". Chaturvedi
did not act on the complaint and when a letter written by Nisha Bhatia to
the Joint Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, asking him to bring the matter to
the notice of Secretary [R] was referred to him, he wrote back, "Please call
both the concerned officials and sort out the problem. I don't wish to be
disturbed on such issues."

Bhatia now finds herself being "chased" by inquiry committees ever since she
complained that Chaturvedi had also harassed her since 2005. She has cited
his comments in representations to senior officials within RAW where she has
accused Chaturvedi of "repeatedly telling me to use my *jawani *and *khubsoorti
*and the glow on my face to find the right *aadmi *for myself rather than
concentrate on my career and children". She has maintained that her
telephones are being tapped, she is being followed, and all her perquisites
have been removed since she sought justice. Chaturvedi tried to label her as
"mentally unstable" but the campaign did not succeed as Bhatia has worked
with RAW for 20 years and has the reputation of being a "competent" officer.
Several former RAW officials who have worked with her confirmed this.

Bhatia is determined to fight till the bitter end, and is moving the courts
for redressal. Chaturvedi, on the other hand, is equally determined to get
her out and is reported to be preparing the ground through yet another
internal enquiry for this. Insiders claimed that orders for her dismissal
had already been issued as a precursor to prosecuting her and eventually
putting the lid on yet another internal scandal. The skeletons continue to
mount.

The organisation is falling apart. Insiders are writing and circulating
notes in a bid to invite attention and action, but the Prime Minister's
Office is blank. No one in Government seems to be interested, not even the
NSA. Informed sources said that this was largely because Narayanan, unlike
his predecessor J.N. Dixit, was of the view that the bifurcation of
intelligence gathering into the internal Intelligence Bureau and the
external RAW was a "historical mistake". It seems he would not mind the
demise of RAW as that could facilitate a decision to re-merge the two
agencies.

Bhatia met Narayanan but has been left at the mercy of the RAW chief who she
believes is as guilty as Sunil Uke, and not an impartial officer in her
case.

The Research and Analysis Wing was set up in September 1968 to collect
external intelligence, counter terrorism and initiate covert operations. It
was visualised as an agency that would obtain and analyse information not
just about foreign Governments but also of corporations and relevant
individuals and provide valuable inputs into Government policy decisions.
Jawaharlal Nehru mooted the idea, and Indira Gandhi gave it concrete shape,
with R.N. Kao being transferred from the Intelligence Bureau that earlier
handled both external and internal intelligence, to head the new agency.
>From a 250-employee wing jocularly known after its founder as the "Kaoboys",
it has grown to a several-thousand personnel organisation with a healthy
annual budget. To ensure continuity and specialisation, RAW envisaged
officers on deputation from various other services who would be given the
option of leaving their parent service and opting for the newly created RAW
Administrative Service or RAS. A handful of specialists, or "suitable"
persons, were quietly recruited directly every year and imparted language
and espionage training.

This system worked reasonably well till the early Nineties. To ensure
service continuity the policy of "permanent secondment" was introduced in
2003 by RAW Director C.D. Sahay who felt that the organisation was not
attracting the "right" talent and that IPS officials should be allowed an
open ended contract to serve inside RAW until they were considered
"suitable". In an attempt at self-preservation and self-perpetuation, the
IPS that dominates RAW selectively changed the rules in its favour. In
short, if any IPS officer felt his chances of advancement in RAW were
feeble, he could then opt to return to his state cadre. The IPS has a
similar "revolving door" deal within the IB too.

But this sharpened the conflict between the RAS cadres and those on
deputation, with the former terming this decision as the genesis for the
prevailing decay in the organisation. RAW insiders pointed out that from a
"super specialist service, its character has changed permanently to an *aayaram
gayaram *service", dominated by the police.

Sources said that these IPS officials avoided language courses resulting in
a severe shortage of much needed specialists like Mandarin and Farsi
speakers. "RAS recruits are taught to be fluent in the concerned language,
but the police and others coming here with the option of going back to their
parent cadre, feel such rigours are not necessary," sources said.

Hardly any recent IPS deputationist, sources said, had acquired foreign
language skills till the interpreter level during his or her tenure in RAW.
Interestingly, the Joint Secretary charged with sexual harassment by Nisha
Bhatia was from the Customs service and has since reverted to his parent
cadre minus any language expertise.

RAS direct recruits undergo three years of training in languages, covert
tradecraft and combat skills before being confirmed in their jobs. IPS
officers joining the agency come with high-handed investigative experience
and knowledge of operating sources, but critics are of the view that they
fall far short of the specialised and esoteric requirements of the RAW.

The organisation's presence in China and strategically important West and
Central Asia stands depreciated by the lack of officers with language
skills. There have been embarrassing incidents in recent weeks when RAW
officials posted in missions abroad had to be recalled because their cover
had been blown due to "honey traps"; in which they were compromised through
sexual favours by enemy plants. Over the years, over 30 RAW operatives, some
in highly sensitive regions, have stayed behind in their last overseas
postings while headquarters in Delhi ignored such transgressions in yet
another bid to paper over embarrassing lapses of discipline and service
rules. Poor planning and administration have also worked to ensure that RAW
lags behind other covert services. It has no system of qualitative
requirements for assignment overseas, opening the way for patronage,
nepotism and influence to shape postings.  RAW has autonomy over its vast
and highly costly procurements. Over the past decade in particular, several
single vendor contracts in favour of Israeli and German sellers have been
entered into with all accepted procurement norms being completely violated
in the process. There is a rising demand for parliamentary oversight of RAW
to ensure at least some level of honesty and accountability. But attempts to
push this through in the past have been successfully derailed.
Accountability is something RAW is obviously uncomfortable with.

Operationally too the entire service remains demoralised, with few missions
offering worthwhile information. Chaturvedi is seen as paranoid, and a
report in the *Middle East Times *suggested that Afghanistan President Hamid
Karzai was once particularly unhappy with Chaturvedi's "abrasive manner" and
even complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about this.





Currently, RAW has been further paralysed by a fierce war of succession for
the top job. In the race are Sanjeev Tripathi, Rana Baneerjee and P.V.
Kumar. Tripathi, an IPS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, enjoys
Chaturvedi's support and is the son-in-law of G.S. Bajpai who headed RAW
briefly between 1990-1991. Rana Banerjee is an IAS officer from Assam who
has been in RAW for 25 years, and is said to have a good rapport with
Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee. Chaturvedi recommended
Banerjee for the largely ceremonial post of Chairman of the Joint
Intelligence Committee. This was widely seen as a move to get Banerjee out
of the organisation, but it failed as Banerjee refused to leave.

Kumar, on the other hand, is a RAS officer, and though godfather-less enjoys
support from within the organisation as a fair minded, apolitical
professional. He is described as a highly competent officer, and an expert
on China and Pakistan. But given the absence of political clout and the
lobbying skills of his rivals, he is likely to retire in his current post of
Additional Secretary sometime in early 2009 [¼]





CIVIL WAR BEFUDDLES INTELLIGENCE BODIES



Bureaucratic wrangling and turf battles exacerbated by budgetary squabbles
continue to hamper India's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
[ISR] capabilities, split between the Research and Analysis Wing [RAW] and
the newly created equally secretive National Technical Research Organisation
[NTRO].



The rivalry between the two arbitrary organisations, given their duplication
of tasks and complete lack of independent oversight was also adversely
impinging on intelligence collation. This has contributed to the total
failure of intelligence in domestic terrorism.



The NTRO, created after the partial revamp of India's security grid
following the 1999 Kargil invasion to collate technical intelligence through
satellites and varied ISR measures, is engaged in debilitating competition
with RAW's Aviation Research Centre [ARC], responsible for monitoring the
Pakistani and Chinese borders.



The ARC's assets of ageing fixed wing transport and light aircraft like
Russian IL 76s and AN32s and General Dynamics Gulfstream III/SRA-1s and
upgraded US-made Gulfstream IV/SRA-4 jets and obsolete helicopter fleet are
tasked with gathering "actionable" information via airborne signal
intelligence operations and photo reconnaissance flights along troublesome
frontiers.



ARC inputs constitute the bulk of the monthly intelligence forecasts to
India's services, particularly the Army, on the Pakistani and Chinese
military's order of battle and tables of organisation.



Its responsibilities also include detailing the neighbours' immediate
military capabilities, organisational structure, mission essential personnel
and current equipment deployment.

But the creation of the capital-intensive NTRO six years ago brought it
directly into conflict with the ARC that perceives it as a threat to its
continued existence.



The ARC fears the NTRO spells its eventual demise as it occupies itself with
systematically acquiring assets like unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs],
aerostat radar systems and augmenting satellite capability to provide
electronic intelligence to a variety of clients like the military, RAW, the
Intelligence Bureau and the foreign and defence ministries.



A proposal to merge the ARC with the NTRO, which many insiders believe would
be "highly practicable", was recommended strongly by a recently retired RAW
chief, but it is nowhere near fruition as it would degrade "empires" within
the security agency.



As an indicator attempts by the NTRO in 2006 to acquire five ISR aircraft
capable of operating at over 41,000 feet from either Canada's Bombardier or
France's Dassault have, for now, been successfully thwarted by the ARC.

The NTRO's bid to induct the aircraft following extensive trials of the
competing platforms in Leh and a routine flight from New Delhi to Kolkata
last year are presently under "review" by National Security Adviser M.K.
Narayanan following opposition from an insecure ARC. Aircraft induction by
the NTRO, RAW insiders believe, would be the "beginning of the ARC's end".



Acquisition of crucial missile monitoring equipment for the NTRO is also a
long way from closure, with only the request for information for it having
been dispatched some two years ago to vendors in Belarus, France, Israel,
Russia and Ukraine.



But ARC objections on the NTRO acquiring UAVs had been overruled and six
Israel Aerospace Industries [IAI]-built Heron 1s worth US $80 million are
expected to arrive in early 2009 to be based at Hindon near Delhi and close
to Dehra Dun for deployment along the northern and western borders. Plans to
acquire four Israeli aerostat radar systems were also under active
consideration.

Leasing capacity on Israel's Ofeq-5 military satellite by the NTRO and the
launch earlier this year by the Space Research Organisation of an
IAI-designed TecSAR military satellite, capable of accurate mapping and
three-dimensional modelling capability of the mountainous Kashmir terrain,
further threaten to degrade the ARC's efficacy and relevance.



"The ARC's significance is in inverse proportion to the NTRO's proliferating
operational capabilities," an official source said declining to be named.
But till the RAW's ethos of "empire building" persisted, it was unlikely to
relinquish control of the ARC or agree to its merger with the NTRO resulting
in operational duplication and wasteful expenditure.



"The output by the ARC's fleet of obsolete, lumbering aircraft fitted with
outdated Western surveillance sensors and optical electronic systems that
are capable of limited penetration into enemy territory remain restrictive
in a real time situation," a senior military officer who has dealt with the
ARC said.



Other sources declared that the 46-year-old ARC's output with analogue- and
not digital-capability that was desperately in need of upgrading, not only
"diluted immediate operational utility", but also made the images and
accompanying analysis "tactically unsound".

Security and military sources dismissed the ARC as a "stove pipe" operation
in India's overall intelligence gathering apparatus, accusing it of
operating in a "vacuum" and producing little of "operational value". They
dismiss its output as little better than "pretty pictures" that provided the
military with limited tactical input.



Headed by S.K. Tripathi, a senior IPS officer absorbed like many others over
the past four decades into the RAW, and under consideration to head the
agency early next year, the ARC was established in 1962 with help from the
US' Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], nervous about China, and with
political prodding by the late Biju Patnaik, former head of the transport
wing of the Royal Indian Air Force during World War II.