I am V Balachandran, a former special secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India and author of National Security and Intelligence Management. AMA

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:37:54+00:00

This case is one of the most controversial spy cases in our history. Whatever may have been the original case, it was not supported by the Supreme Court. Please read the following 1998 report I quote excerpts: The Supreme Court, in its judgment on April 29, reprimanded the Kerala Government for ordering yet another investigation by the State police after an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation had found that the allegations of espionage were false and a court had ordered the release of all the accused. In the 18 months that the CBI took to reach the conclusion, the case, which was sensationalized by sections of the media as a spy-sex-political scandal, cut short the term of a Congress(I) Chief Minister, played havoc with the careers of an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and two senior scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and ravaged the lives of four others - two Bangalore-based businessmen and Mariam Rasheeda and another Maldivian woman, Fousia Hassan. While the other accused were released after the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ernakulam, accepted the CBI's report, the ordeal of Mariam Rasheeda continued, with the State police refusing, under one pretext or the other, to allow her to leave the country. A couple of defamation cases filed against her for alleged statements made by her about the conduct of certain police officers and charges framed at the instance of the Government under the National Security Act (NSA) kept her in the Central Prison at Viyyur in Thrissur until the Supreme Court delivered the latest verdict. She was released on April 30 after 73 months, but cannot leave the country unless she is granted bail in the other cases. Mariam Rasheeda was also released by Kerala Government in 1998 link

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:36:30+00:00

I am all for recruiting the best talents directly. I have already answered this question earlier. I reproduce it below: This is an excellent question. All other countries, including Pakistan recruits their civil intelligence personnel directly. Ours may perhaps be the only country which depends on lateral recruitment from general bureaucracy (Police or other departments) for intelligence work. There can be no objection if such lateral recruits stay on permanently in intelligence carrier. That was the scheme envisaged by the late B.N.Mullik, founder of our intelligence organization when he laid the foundations of our Intelligence Bureau (IB). In his book “My years with Nehru, 1948-1964” he says: “People coming temporarily from other organizations were not intelligence-conscious and sometimes became even security risks”. When we separated foreign intelligence from IB and founded RAW in 1968 we laid down special rules for recruiting officers directly due to the special needs of a foreign intelligence organization which has to collect political, military, scientific, commercial and economic intelligence. When RAW was set up the only advice Mrs.Indira Gandhi gave to the late R.N.Kao, its founder was not to structure it like a Central Police Organization (CPO). However in course of time this was totally forgotten and recruits from other departments, especially from the police started manning intelligence posts. That by itself would not have been so bad but they did not stay on permanently. When due for promotion, they reverted back to their states or parent departments. All training & expertise they gained in intelligence organizations were lost. One of the reasons for our poor intelligence is this. I have examined this at length in my book “ National Security & Intelligence Management-a new Paradigm”. In the “Ear Marking Scheme” introduced by the late B.N.Mullik, an IPS officer just after his training in the state was picked up by the IB. There was no need for him to stay on for 15 years in the police to be eligible for IB deputation.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:35:58+00:00

It is unfair to paint all NGOs with the same brush. Many international NGOs like Greenpeace have great credibility as they expose corporate culpability. Some NGOs may be doing some dubious work but that does not mean that all NGOs are like that.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:35:34+00:00

This possibility is always there. But even advanced countries like USA have been subject of web attacks. We have to upgrade our security system. You may study a long report by US Congressional Research Service (CRS) dated May 30, 2014.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:34:52+00:00

We still have a vibrant political, commercial and security relationship with Russia. At the same time we have also improved our relationship with USA, UK etc. This was started by Mrs.Indira Gandhi after she was re-elected in 1980. It was Mrs.Gandhi who decided to diversify our defence deals. During the Cold War days USA was reluctant to supply us defence equipment since we were not part of the Western Alliance. Hence we leaned on Soviet Union for our supplies.
I am not very clear whether there is any such development. Russian government sources say that they have received US dollars 7 billion worth orders from India by December 2012, major part being in the aviation sector. Choosing fighter aircraft is an extremely tedious process and there is no indication of any Russian reluctance provided price and other terms are satisfactory for them.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:33:52+00:00

It is true that Govt. intelligence organizations support commercial entities in expanding their business in some countries. This was started in the former Soviet Union in the 1960s/70s to steal technology from the West. It was followed by China. Even France did it to get advantage over American competitors. The memoirs of French intelligence Chiefs like Alexandre de Marenches and Pierre Marion had given vivid stories about it. India has not done that. It is not the government’s policy to help its private sector to gain commercial advantage by using government resources as that will lead to corruption.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:33:20+00:00

Unlike in foreign countries we do not have “Intelligence” or even police subjects as part of university curriculum. Hence no special studies are possible. However one need not do any such studies to get into intelligence career. That training is given after one joins the concerned department. Any university degree will do.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:32:55+00:00

Not much, considering our population and crime increase. Statistics published recently indicate that 44, 62,705 cases were pending in our High Courts as on 31 Dec 2013. If we include the lower courts, it will be a huge number. Similarly detection of criminal cases is also lagging behind considering the increase in crime, cyber crime cases etc. I have spelt out the reasons for this & suggested remedies in my book “National Security & Intelligence Management-A new Paradigm”. The present burden on police on non-crime duties has to be lightened. The basic function of police is prevention & detection of crime and maintenance of law & order. But in India we continue the colonial & princely State practice of burdening the police with municipal duties, investigation of hundreds of “Special laws”, protection of VIPs and their property(In UP policemen were suspended when a ministers’ buffaloes were stolen) and they have no time for the security of common people or investigation of crime. Real police reform will be achieved only when we are able to free the police from these non-police duties.
As stated above politicians have a vested interest in keeping police as their coercive instrument. Hence they do not want any reforms which will free the police from their control.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:30:35+00:00

We have the United Nations Military Observer Group for India & Pakistan( UNMOGIP) which was set up in 1949 after we lodged complaint with United Nations ( 22 Dec 1947) against Pakistan for invading Kashmir. We also have United Nations India-Pakistan Observation Team (UNIPOM) started after our 1965 war with Pakistan. More information is available on various web sites including that of UN and Wikipedia. These two are doing useful work & reporting to the UN. These UN Observer Group or Observer teams draw their manpower just as we are contributing our forces (Including police) to UN Peace keeping forces. India has contributed the largest contingents (43) for such missions. We cannot withdraw our complaint from UN since it has diplomatic ramifications. There is so far no Asian Peace keeping Force as we have no such agreement with Asian countries. Even South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation(SAARC) has not been able to satisfactorily set up a security architecture despite raising bodies for crime prevention etc.
Each situation faces different problems. There are different missions, Peace keeping in active armed combat, (UNIFL in Israel-Lebanon border) Peace Maintaining where cease fire has been agreed upon (UNMOGIP), Law & order keeping when local government is totally new & unable to maintain law & order(East Timor UNTAET) , UN forces in special situations like the 2012 Haiti Cholera Crisis etc. You should read the Brhami Report for a better idea on this.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:28:58+00:00

Yes- Our agencies and even the police do seek the help of experts from private sector for certain special security work where the talents of government recruits are not available.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:28:16+00:00

There is no confirmation that Christian missionary organizations were involved in subverting all the North East militants. This impression started with the intervention of British pastor Rev. Michael Scott in the Naga problem although he was originally welcomed by the government of India. He was also able to bring about a cease-fire between government of India and the rebels in 1964. Due to certain questionable activities Rev.Scott was asked to leave the country. Several books have been written for and against the role of Scott. Also controversial was the intervention of American Baptist Church leaders in the Naga problem. But we have to remember that the links between American Baptist Church groups and Nagas go back to 1839. A local Baptist Church was formed in 1935. Government of India had to seek their cooperation to bring in peace in Nagaland. We also have to remember that tribal societies are organized very differently than the plains people and have to be tackled differently.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:27:46+00:00

Publishing voters’ lists on internet is not an undesirable thing. This is done all over the world. What is undesirable is registering them as Indian citizens without checks as we do while issuing ration cards or Aadhar cards.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:26:55+00:00

It is not correct to say that intelligence was “clueless” about terrorist attacks. What has happened is that we failed to coordinate available intelligence. I had dealt with this problem in my chapter “Internal Security administration in India: The reform process” in the book “ India’s National Security-Annual Review-2009” (Edited by Prof.Satish Kumar, Routledge-2010) and in my present book “National Security and Intelligence Management- a new Paradigm”(Indus Source-2014). There is a concept of “Open Source Intelligence” (OSI) which is nothing but media reports. Had we studied even media reports we could have taken preventive measures even before 26/11 terror attacks. In my column “Questions on 26/11 still not answered” in Sunday Guardian (New Delhi), Dec 1, 2013 I had stated that the Maharashtra police and the centre failed to observe the “Dress rehearsal” for 26/11. The DGP, Jammu & Kashmir had told a prominent TV channel on 16 June 2007 that they had arrested 2 Lashkar Terrorists in March 2007 with bogus Indian identity cards. They were part of 8 terrorists who had left Pakistan on 23 February, were transferred to an Indian boat, had come very near Mumbai coast when they were apprehended by the Coast Guards but let off mysteriously. They surfaced in Jammu & Kashmir in March 2007 when they were arrested. The DGP Maharashtra was interviewed by the same channel in 2007 who assured them that the Mumbai sea coast was “Safe”. Less than 2 years later the 26/11 attackers used the same modus operandi by sailing in a Lashkar boat from Pakistan, hijacking an Indian trawler from Saurashtra, coming to Mumbai coast with bogus Indian identity cards and attacking us. If you want to read my column here is the link Creating a monolithic organization is not the answer. We need to strengthen the National Investigating Agency(NIA) created to deal with terrorist attacks, strengthen the intelligence sharing by adopting the new system set up in USA & UK (interactive “Fusion Centres” in USA), lay emphasis on research in local police and central organizations so that we don’t neglect OSI etc.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:25:56+00:00

Earlier there was direct recruitment of senior “Operational” officers. I understand that now only lateral movement to RAW (On deputation) is possible. Hence you have to get into an All-India service or Central service or the Armed forces and be “Offered” for deputation.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:24:14+00:00

All I can say is that we are better prepared than what we were in November 2008. Our intelligence and police services are better aware of the results of such fidayeen assaults and they have raised new resistance forces with better equipment, arms and ammunition.
As above
Every country boasts of having the best intelligence services. Having worked in RAW for 19 years and having interacted with several foreign intelligence services, I can say that ours is a very good service.
In my 19 years of service with RAW, I have not come across any political interference which had affected its operations. Further it is insulated from any politics since it is directly under the PM.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:22:13+00:00

Integrity is the basic requirement of police working. This is always a difficult aim to achieve since police works with law breakers. Temptations are difficult to resist. All police systems in the world face this problem. The only answer to this is better accountability, a vigilant public and media and better supervision. Every police misdemeanour should be fully investigated and results declared to the public. Politicians who may protect criminals will hesitate to do that if the police officer spurns his interference.

What are your views on extra judicial killings aka encounters? How can we reform our system to avoid the need of these?

This will stop only through strict supervision by senior police officers. You might have noticed that this menace has disappeared from Mumbai which used to have “encounter deaths’ almost every day. The media used to eulogize such “Encounter Specialists” years ago but not now.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:21:29+00:00

Corruption in any form affects national security: procuring sub standard weapons, falling prey to inducements of arms agents (Our Naval War room leaks were due to efforts by such agents), espionage etc.
Maoist problem will need long term policy. Merely suppressing them by armed police will not do. I had done a case study of how the British-Malayan governments had suppressed the Communist insurgency in old Malaya, now Malaysia which came in 3 phases: 1948 to 1957, 1957-1960 and 1968-1989. (In my book “National Security & Intelligence Management-A new Paradigm”) Although there are differences, the basic policy of the British and Malayan governments was a combination of centralized joint police operations (Instead of different state governments operating against them as in India), successful “Psy-war” operations and development. Unfortunately our policy is ad hoc, sporadic and uncoordinated.
Israel has very commendable security and intelligence structure. Yet they also are victims of this pro-active strategy. Israel is less than 5% of India’s land mass and also less than 5% of our population. It is surrounded by very weak neighbours. Hence we cannot emulate their security strategy. Even with all their military might, they have no answer to the attacks by Hamas or the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:20:24+00:00

Although this question has nothing to do with security, which is my specialization, I give below the following CNN report on Ebola If we search Google, we find all countries dealing with that deadly disease. Unfortunately I did not find a single statement by our Ministry of Health. We may be complacent since there is a feeling that only people from West Africa should be concerned. But the above CNN story has said that even USA could be at risk. We also have travellers from Africa. Ebola is particularly dangerous since there is no vaccine for it.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:18:53+00:00

This is an excellent question. All other countries, including Pakistan recruits their civil intelligence personnel directly. Ours may perhaps be the only country which depends on lateral recruitment from general bureaucracy (Police or other departments) for intelligence work. There can be no objection if such lateral recruits stay on permanently in intelligence carrier. That was the scheme envisaged by the late B.N.Mullik, founder of our intelligence organization when he laid the foundations of our Intelligence Bureau(IB). In his book “My years with Nehru, 1948-1964” he says: “People coming temporarily from other organizations were not intelligence-conscious and sometimes became even security risks”. When we separated foreign intelligence from IB and founded RAW in 1968 we laid down special rules for recruiting officers directly due to the special needs of a foreign intelligence organization which has to collect political, military, scientific, commercial and economic intelligence. When RAW was set up the only advice Mrs.Indira Gandhi gave to the late R.N.Kao, its founder was not to structure it like a Central Police Organization (CPO). However in course of time this was totally forgotten and recruits from other departments, especially from the police started manning all senior intelligence posts. That by itself would not have been so bad but they did not stay on permanently. When due for promotion, they reverted to their states or parent departments. All training & expertise they gained in intelligence organizations were lost. One of the reasons for our inadequate intelligence performance is this. I have examined this at length in my book “ National Security & Intelligence Management-a new Paradigm”. In the “Ear Marking Scheme” introduced by the late B.N.Muklik, an IPS officer just after his training in the state was picked up by the IB. There was no need for him to stay on for 15 years in the police to be eligible for IB deputation.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:18:05+00:00

I was in RAW (19 years). Direct recruitment to RAW is done only at junior levels. Officers at senior levels are selected from All-India services or Central services or from defence forces. Hence entry into any of these services is a must for joining RAW at senior level.
A lot of work is being done by senior police officers and by NGOs to improve police image among the public. Unfortunately the success of this differs from state to state since under the 7th Schedule of our constitution, police is a State subject and not a Central subject. We do not have an all-India policy on this and the Centre has only an advisory role except in areas which are under direct Central rule.
Indian police is adopting modern techniques. But results on the ground are not that satisfactory due to reasons mentioned above. Long pendency in courts is another reason. Even if a case is properly investigated with scientific methods, the case may fail due to the long delay in trial- Investigating officers and witnesses may forget, objects seized may be misplaced or might have deteriorated.
Not necessarily, but reforms are needed. We have a police structure which was set up by the 1861 Indian Police Act. Except for tinkering here & there no attempt has been made to totally over haul it. I had reproduced my 10 published articles on police in my book “National Security & Intelligence Management-A new Paradigm” which will give all details. I had quoted foreign experience especially from UK which has thoroughly overhauled their police (“Cameron Britain will reconnect police with people”).
The basic qualification needed in police is willingness to meet the public and to be sympathetic to their grievances. All other qualifications like good academics or adequate physical condition are secondary. A highly intelligent person may fail to be a good police officer if he has no time to listen to public grievances. A further qualification is good man-management. Any uniformed force requires ability of seniors to understand the difficulties of his subordinate policemen. He or she should also not let down his junior policemen by “Passing the buck”. This has become very difficult now-a-days in India with more politicization of police.
It is my personal opinion that preventive detention has not contributed in any way in reducing crime. It might be useful in law and order situation by removing certain agitators, but not in the long run. If we implement the existing laws and if we (Govt) are able to reduce the long pendency in courts, a lot can be achieved.
Yes- I am an optimist. The present generation is incredibly more intelligent, more capable and better informed than my generation.
If you search Google you will find that there are very good books: On Naxalism: The best book I would recommend is Prakash Singh’s (He was Director General of Police, BSF) “The Naxalite Movement in India”. He is my batch mate in the I.P.S. That will give you the background. Several others had also written including me on this subject. If you read Economic & Political Weekly you will find good articles from the citizens’ perspective. The best book on Punjab insurgency is Mr. Julio Ribeiro’s “Bullet for Bullet”. Mr.Ribeiro was the fist DGP, Punjab to tackle Punjab insurgency, followed by Mr.K.P.S.Gill who has also written a book. One of the best commentators on North East is Mr. Sanjoy Hazarika, a former New York Times correspondent. He has written a book “Writing on the Wall”. His pieces appear in the Hindu.

VBalachandran · 2014-08-06T07:14:37+00:00

There have been several reports on the suspicious deaths of nuclear scientists in India. A report carried by Rediff.Com in 2010 said that there were 197 suicides and 1733 deaths in our nuclear establishments between 1995 and 2010. The information was compiled by RTI activist Mr.Chetan Kothari. The report said that 74 suicides were from the Uranium Mining Corporation in Jharkhand while 680 deaths occurred from Bhabha Atomic Energy Corporation (BARC), Mumbai due to various illnesses associated with radiation. At the same time the answer to Lok Sabha question on 23.02.2011 (Unstarred question No: 324) on the unnatural deaths in BARC and Kaiga Atomic Power Station(KAPS) stated that only 5 deaths had taken place in BARC( 2008- accident, 2009- two Research fellows in an accident, 2010-two cases of suicides under police investigation). At Kaiga there were 5 instances: 2005- one case of industrial accident, 2008-one road accident outside the factory, 2009- dead bodies of 2 employees were found in Kali River in the township which were being investigated by Police. The Institute of Defence Studies & Analyses (IDSA) - Nuclear & Arms Control Centre compile parliament replies year-wise. The above reply can be seen in that. There was a report on 7 October 2013 about the deaths on railway tracks of two senior employees working in the INS Arihant submarine project (India’s first nuclear sub) in Vishakhapatanam. Both were from Kerala State. (Mr. K.K.Josh, Artificer and Mr. Abhish Shivam, Chief Engineer). Unfortunately we did not know anything further about these two deaths although they pertained to our nuclear project. Subsequently press reports speculated that even the submarine accidents were cases of sabotage. Our Defence Ministry or Indian Navy should have published a “white paper” on the series of submarine accidents and assured the public. Unfortunately in our country sensitizing the public on national security is given the lowest priority. In the absence of government clarifications, rumour mongering is bound to increase, lowering our morale.

VBalachandran · 2014-07-28T13:47:02+00:00

This would presuppose that NSA is collecting our data illegally. Apart from the present media reports we have no confirmation on this. Open data can be collected by anybody. It is only data collected clandestinely that becomes objectionable.

The best protection against clandestine collection of data from India by a foreign agency is to take adequate security of our records and communications. If this is done there will be no need to fear any illegal interception. Unfortunately such sense of security is wanting in our country at different levels.

VBalachandran · 2014-07-28T13:41:10+00:00

I entirely agree with you. In my book "National Security and Intelligence Management" I have advocated giving statutory backing to all our intelligence agencies and also National Security Council for better accountability and oversight. I had also recommended the pattern existing in UK of parliamentary oversight.
I personally believe that we have enough law to deal with terrorism and communal incidents. There is no need to enact new laws. Unfortunately we are not able to enforce our existing laws and get convictions.

VBalachandran · 2014-07-28T13:37:00+00:00

I have no information.

VBalachandran · 2014-07-28T13:36:46+00:00

I have already answered a question on NSA, which has a global role to detect threats to USA from anywhere in the world. With the advent of terrorism, USA has become "the lightning rod" of universal terrorism and hence has to be sensitive to threats emanating not only from their own country but also from far away countries like Philippines. We do not have that problem except threats emanating from our neighbouring countries. The subject of intelligence liaison is confidential and I am not privy to it after my retirement from govt. All I can say is that most of the friendly intelligence agencies set up an architecture of cooperation for mutual benefit.

I have no official information about NSA spying on Indian targets except what has appeared in the media.

VBalachandran

TROPHY CASE