I grieve over the death of Shri Ashok Chaturvedi, who headed the Research & Analysis Wing ( R&AW), India's external intelligence agency, in his capacity as Secretary ( R ) during 2007-09, on the night of September 18,2011, in a Delhi hospital due to a multi-organ failure. He was 63 -- 12 years younger than me.
Successive R&AW chiefs and other senior officers have been living in an ivory tower of their own, inaccessible to junior officers and unsympathetic to their problems and grievances. Junior officers of the R&AW call this the 11th floor mentality.
Nisha Bhatia, a dismissed female Research & Analysis Wing officer who was in the news after she tried to commit suicide at the Prime Minister's Office, was re-instated on Tuesday by a Central Administrative Tribunal Bench.
Periodic misunderstandings and mutual bitterness in the relations between co-operating intelligence agencies are part of the intelligence game, writes strategic expert B Raman.
One cannot deny that the government's decision did result in an increase in international pressure on the Pakistan Army to withdraw from Indian territory
The new leadership will be to have such an introspective exercise. The RAW has done great work in the past. It is capable of similar great work in the difficult years to come with the right critical approach and self-correcting action, says strategic expert B Raman.
The induction of Verma, who has never served in the RAW before, reflects the government's anxiety to set right the relapse in the organisation. It will be Verma's job to ensure that the staff works hand in hand in removing deficiencies in the organisation.
B Raman pays tribute to S E Joshi who passed into the ages on Friday.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said it was a "matter of grave concern" that certain portions of sensitive reports of the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing were put in public domain by the Supreme Court collegium.
Fixed tenure for defence, home secretaries
Previously, for nearly a decade, we had no body for analysis, assessment and follow-up action. Today we have three --- the JIC of the old vintage, the NSCS of the 1998-99 creation and the National Security Advisory Board, which came into existence in 1999 as a body of non-governmental analysts and advisers on national security. From a state of practically no analysis, we have gravitated to one of a plethora of analysis.
Chinese nuclearisation of Tibet endangering ecosystem, says new book
M K Narayanan, national security advisor, accused the media of trying to sabotage the 123 Agreement even before it has been implemented by India and United States.
Ranjan was a lovable individual and officer. He left this world without ever having made an enemy. His contribution to the protection of our national security was immense. He is one of the heroes of the Indian intelligence, who chose to live and die unsung and unknown outside a very small circle of the cognoscenti
Join A S Dulat on the Rediff Chat on July 8, 2015, at 11.30 am IST!
Delhi's appeasement strategy may now translate as more mega arms deals with the US, generating substantial business and job creation in the American economy. Make no mistake, Americans will use it to pressure India, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'As the trial gets closer for Nikhil Gupta, they're going to want to make sure that he doesn't talk.' 'And they're going to put pressure on Mr Gupta to make some deal where the evidence doesn't come out.'
Security and intelligence agencies will soon be provided with a new platform which is technologically advanced, secure and helpful in dealing with new age criminals and anti-social elements, officials said on Wednesday.
It is unlikely Brigadier Raja Rizwan was working for RA&W, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has accused India's external intelligence agency Research & Analysis Wing of involvement in "whipping up terrorism" in the country.
The decision to extend the tenure of the two intelligence chiefs was taken due to the forthcoming general election by the prime minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
Protection of our national security and other critical infrastructure from cyber threats orchestrated by State and non-State actors is now an important task of the intelligence community as a whole. The new chiefs of Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing will be required to play a leadership role in the matter, says B Raman
A mere two-bedroom apartment - albeit quite spacious, covering 3,000 square (sq.) feet (ft) - will set you back 5.8 million. That's the asking price from the Indian-owned Hinduja Group, if you desire a nest in London Whitehall's iconic Old War Office (OWO). Its 1,100 rooms are now being converted into 85 residences and a first-ever hotel to be operated in Britain by Singapore's legendary Raffles Hotels chain. Gopichand Hinduja, co-chair of the conglomerate, said: "Every decision made on The OWO (as the building is fondly called) is underscored by our passion and respect for the heritage of the building and long-term commitment to London."
The RTI reply also stated that the interception of communication was being carried out in accordance with the Telegraph Act of 1885 and Telegraph (Amendment) Rule of 2007, a clause that finds a mention in the clarification issued by the government over the December 20 order.
The three-member Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, said the proposal for appointment of Kirpal as a judge of the high court has been pending for over five years and needs to be processed expeditiously.
'All the things that went into bringing Yakub Memon back to India between 1993 and 1994 must be recorded in that file. Raman would have submitted his findings to the prime minister on file; in writing.'
An internet spy system -- Netra -- will help Indian security agencies decode messages sent by terror outfits like the Indian Mujahideen and Tehrik-e-Taliban on social media.
'R N Kao was a spymaster, an institution builder and a gentleman.'
'...but from those who control the narrative.' Powerful nations have mastered this art of narrative building. Those nations who aspire to become global powers must do so, observes Shanthie Mariet D'Souza.
India does not have a stringent privacy or data protection Act.
The bravado of NDA ministers may have undone the gains made in cross-border security cooperation over the past several years.
Read what the ex-chief of R&AW, A S Dulat, told our readers on Rediff Chat!
Calculated or otherwise, if Azhagiri's firing of the first salvo after Karunanidhi's death does not create some space for him to politico-electorally exploit at a later date, there may not be any space left for him at all, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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