India, US ink MoU for exchange of information on terror

NEW DELHI: Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and US Ambassador to India Richard Verma on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for exchange of intelligence on terror on a real time basis that include biographic information of known and suspected terrorists.

According to this pact, India and the US will provide each other access to terrorism screening information through the designated contact points, subject to domestic laws and regulations, an official spokesperson said. The agreement would enhance the counter terrorism cooperation between India and the US.

Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) is a multi-agency organisation administered by FBI which consolidates several terrorist watch lists maintained by different US government agencies into single terrorist database on terror suspects. The database includes the names of the terror suspects, nationality, date of birth, photos, finger prints (if any) and passport number.

With signing of the key pact, India has formally entered into the US Homeland Security Presidential Directive-6 (HSPD-6), which will enable it to access ‘unclassified biographic information of known and suspected terrorists’ maintained by the US on a reciprocal basis.