Anybody out there?
ET peered behind the opaque government structure to piece together information about the most secretive apparatus only to discover that we have as many as 10 agencies doing what we call the intelligence gathering.
By Girish Kuber, TNN |
MUMBAI: It is certainly testing times for India’s intelligence establishment. As it is accused of doing very little to prevent Mumbai’s serial blasts that has claimed nearly 200 lives, the police’s failure to nab those behind the Terror Tuesday even after a week is adding to the agony of India’s sleuths.
ET peered behind the opaque government structure to piece together information about the most secretive apparatus only to discover that we have as many as 10 agencies doing what we call the intelligence gathering.
Research and Analysis Wing
Formed way back in ‘68, the RAW normally is responsible for overseas intelligence. The post of the chief of RAW, a kind of supercop, is the most coveted job in the government for two reasons. One, he sits on huge undisclosed budget and two, reports directly to the PM and home minister. The first public face of RAW was RN Kao, known for his legendary skills. It is the most important of the spying agencies.
Intelligence Bureau
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Popularly known as IB, this agency is omnipresent. IB was formed soon after independence and now is one of the largest and most enigmatic government agencies. The IB operates in alliance with respective state police and doesn’t have executive powers. Meaning, it can’t arrest or prosecute the accused. IB sleuths feed their bosses anything from mundane information about politicians to anti-national activities.Joint Cipher Bureau
This is a kind of a bridge between RAW and IB that tries to make sense of information gathered by these two agencies. It has all the gadgetry and technical expertise for eaves dropping and ciphering the data collected.
Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA)
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The youngest of them, the DIA was formed during the BJP-led NDA’s rule in ‘02. This is the third most important agency that is central to all defence related intelligence inputs. The chief of DIA reports to chief of defence staffs.Joint Intelligence Committee
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As the name suggests this is a nodal agency for all civilian and military intelligence agencies. It has a mix of all experts from various areas who report to the National Security Advisor (NSA).Signals Intelligence Directorate
A kind of technical body engaged with all three services. Basically responsible for our border security and info gathering about immediate rivals, the SIA has a large number of equipment for spying.
Aviation Research Centre
Another agency involved in spycams, satellite surveillance etc. The info gathered by ARC is passed on to RAW. This has many centres across the country to collect and collate the data.
Directorate of Military Intelligence
A very powerful body that feeds the army. Has large network along and across the border.
Directorate of Air Intelligence
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This is the agency that undertakes reconnaissance missions and digests satellite info.
Directorate of Navy Intelligence
As the name suggests, it operates for the Navy and has its own system in place.
Then, there are mundane sounding agencies like All India Radio monitoring agency which keeps track of who is saying what on our own and other countries’ radio stations. Many a times, a timely tip off from the radio monitoring agency has helped the security agencies uncover important plots.
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There are also other para military forces, such as central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) or Border Security Force (BSF) with their own intelligence arms to feed their needs.
And the local police have their own network of khabaris for which the state home ministry has its own secret fund. They also have their own version of IB which briefs the CM and the home ministers every morning.
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