Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time -Two Hundred TWO
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
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News results for India in Commonwealth
The HinduIndia increases Commonwealth Games budget - 3 days ago
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has doubled its budget to organise the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi next year as it hopes to use the international gathering ...Reuters India - 148 related articles »
Welcome To Commonwealth Games, 2010 Delhi
29 Oct 2009 ... New Delhi: The Organising Committee Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 ... LONDON: A delightful India aroma wafted across the Buckingham Palace ...
cwgdelhi2010.com/ - Cached - Similar -Commonwealth of Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The issue was resolved in April 1949 at a Commonwealth prime ministers' meeting in London. Under this London Declaration, India agreed that, when it became ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations - Cached - Similar -India at the Commonwealth Games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
22 Sep 2009 ... India has competed in fourteen of the eighteen previous Commonwealth Games; starting at the second Games in 1934. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_at_the_Commonwealth_Games - Cached - Similar -Commonwealth Scholarships and Fellowships - Programmes available ...
This is an annual scheme made available to all Commonwealth countries by the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission. The India programme is managed jointly by ...
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India receives Commonwealth Games baton from the Queen - Top ...
After travelling to different member countries of the Commonwealth, the Baton will enter India through Wagah Border along Pakistan, 100 days before the ...
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FT.com / Asia-Pacific / India - India expels Commonwealth Games CEO
15 Oct 2009 ... India on Thursday asked the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation to leave the country in an angry response to what it has ...
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/19af7586-b98d-11de-abac-00144feab49a.html - Similar -India increases Commonwealth Games budget | Reuters
5 Nov 2009 ... NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has doubled its budget to organise the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi next year as it hopes to use the ...
in.reuters.com/article/.../idINIndia-43710020091105 - Cached - Similar -India doubles Commonwealth games budget - dnaindia.com
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Chasing The Old MonkIBNLive.com - Nov 5, 2009 Some say he is not liked by his some of his fellow people for talking about a middle path and some even whisper we are angry with him for asking the CIA and ... :. Unstoppable Western Fascism in Afghanistan - VIIIKashmir Watch - - 3 hours ago The CIA neither confirmed nor denied the reported payments. Deeply concerned only about thier business interests in Afghanistan, India, China and Russia, ... Seymour M. Hersh: In an unstable Pakistan, can nuclear warheads be kept safe?New Yorker - - 9 hours ago (All three departments declined to comment for this article. The national-security council and the CIA denied that there were any agreements in place.) :. US-Pak Relations Amid Global Insecurity–IX Kashmir Watch Uncle Sam's design failureTimes of India - - 17 hours ago Indian diplomats and analysts joke that Pakistan needs a therapist not a physician because it hasn't figured out what it wants to be other than anti-India. ... CIA files reveal Cold War leader's angerBBC News - - Nov 6, 2009 It was desperate to avoid the kind of triumphant tour the Soviets had enjoyed on recent visits to India and Burma, and deeply concerned about Soviet efforts ... Pakistan, India and 1971Reuters Blogs (blog) - - Nov 4, 2009 She even sells her children/family to please her lovers (remember Musharaf selling Pakistani citizens to CIA for few $$$).All She needs to realize when she ... Pakistan's security scenario The Nation, Pakistan US blunders need to be rectified! Pakistan Observer - - Nov 6, 2009 All this is happening under the control of champion of human rights US and its intelligence setup mainly CIA. Profit gained by these drugs was main driving ... More troops? Only if US wants more Afghan chaosDetroit Free Press - 6 hours ago The CIA, which has for years pegged Afghanistan's population at 33.6 million, decided last week that the actual head count is closer to 28 million, ... Afghanistan: A Pipeline Dream Runs Through It? Pacific Free Press In Peshawar, state of denial over market attack culpritsWashington Post - - Nov 6, 2009 The marchers held up banners and shouted slogans denouncing the CIA, the Pentagon, the security company formerly known as Blackwater, US drone attacks and ... |
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Now, `Force One' getting ready to guard the Mumbai city
Mumbai: Nearly a year after 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the city gets its first batch of Force One commandos, an elite force formed on the lines of National Security Guards (NSG) for the state security. "The city would have its own elite force, as the first batch of the Force One has been trained and soon they will become operational," Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Chandra Iyengar told PTI. Over 1,600 young policemen from the state had expressed their willingness to join the Force and were given rigorous training by Israeli and German trainers, Iyengar said.
The State Government has alloted land at Goregaon in western suburbs to the Force for training and easy access in emergency situation, she said. The Home Department has also focused on upgradation of police force, coastal security, strengthening Intelligence and participation of local people in security.
Police Department has been provided with new weapons, vehicles and technologies, which would make them alert in case of any emergency situation, Iyengar said. "Police personnel have been trained in such a way that they respond to any situation," she said.
The information would first go to the local police station and then a Quick Response Team (QRT) would deal with the situation and later, Force One would take charge.
Source: PTI
CIA activities in the Near East, North Africa, South and Southwest Asia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article deals with activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the areas that are commonly called the "Middle East", but more precisely cover North Africa, the Near/Middle East, and South and Southwest Asia.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] North Africa
[edit] Regional information
[edit] 1966 National Intelligence Estimate on the Maghreb
This NIE states as its goal, "To examine and assess trends and problems of the individual Maghreb states and of the area as a whole over the next two or three years." It continues "The three Maghreb states share a certain sense of identity, but this tends to be overshadowed by the differences between them. Some modest forms of economic cooperation are developing, but over the next few years nothing approaching economic integration or political unity is in sight." See the individual countries for details on the estimates pertaining directly to them.
"France will continue to be the single most important foreign influence in the Maghreb. The cultural link is likely to persist for some time, and France is the principal trading partner of each of the three countries. Algeria will continue to be the most favored by French subsidies and other economic aid, though throughout the area these will decrease over the longer term. None of the Maghreb countries is likely to become closely involved in the affairs of the Eastern Arab or sub-Saharan African states."
"Both Morocco and Tunisia have border disputes with Algeria, and both fear that Algeria may try to dominate North Africa. Algeria, on the other hand, fears that Morocco and Tunisia, backed by Western powers, might attempt to encircle it. These attitudes have contributed to a North African arms race, with Algeria receiving large amounts of Soviet arms, and Morocco and Tunisia pressing for extensive military aid from Western powers, particularly the US. Algeria's military capabilities are now greater than those of Morocco and Tunisia combined, and we believe Algeria would seek additional Soviet arms if a major build-up of Moroccan or Tunisian forces occurred.
"Despite the tensions among the Maghreb states, none is likely to mount a deliberate major armed attack against a neighbor during the period of this estimate. Limited border conflicts may occur, but they would probably be localized and of short duration."[1]
[edit] 1972 FRUS summary
"Early in President Richard Nixon's first term, officials monitoring U.S.-North African relations had grounds for some satisfaction. U.S. ties with Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya were firm. Although Algeria had not yet resumed diplomatic relations broken during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, its economic links with the United States were expanding. Yet for all North African governments, friendly or otherwise, the Arab-Israeli issue complicated relations with Washington. The conflict was a major factor in continuing Algerian resistance to reestablishing formal ties with Washington. In Libya, a military junta, pledging internal reform and espousing Arab nationalism and the Palestinian cause, overthrew the unpopular pro-western monarchy in September 1969. Thereafter, the administration's concern over Israeli sensibilities influenced its decision not to fulfill its aircraft contract with the Libyan government, to the detriment of U.S.-Libyan relations. In Morocco, Washington was allied with King Hassan, partly for his "moderate" stand on issues like the Arab-Israeli question. Yet as Hassan moved Morocco towards more representative government, he warned that Morocco's firm support for the United States could change. Even Tunisia, a staunch U.S. ally, pushed Washington for a more energetic pursuit of Middle East peace, but was disappointed.[2]
"The challenge for the North African states was to forge beneficial relations with the United States, the USSR, and France, while still maintaining their independence. Washington's support of Israel, however, strained North African-U.S. relations. Regional governments pressed the United States to resolve the Middle East crisis and attempted to defuse the issue themselves. In 1969, Morocco hosted two conferences, one Islamic and one Arab, in an attempt to seize the initiative on the Middle East from Arab "radicals" and bolster its fellow "moderates." Arab nationalists took heart from the Libyan coup in September 1969, and it prompted U.S. officials to reexamine trends and options in North Africa in January 1970.
"U.S. analysts concluded that Algeria and Morocco were likely to remain politically stable in the near future, in the latter case due to King Hassan's tight grip on power. However, in Tunisia, where the ailing President Bourguiba was likely to step down, and Libya, where an inexperienced military junta ruled, the reports predicted political turmoil. Still, without a major Arab-Israel war or western disengagement, analysts saw no significant likelihood of Soviet dominance of the area. The National Security Council (NSC) Interdepartmental Group agreed in 1970 that, to maintain its regional interests, the United States should continue an active relationship with all North African governments, but also welcome a Western European presence. Since U.S. influence was limited by Washington's close identification with Israel, Western Europe, particularly France, could provide the counterpoise to the Soviets in North Africa. THE END
[edit] Middle East
[edit] Arabian Peninsula
[edit] The Levant
[edit] South and Southwest Asia
[edit] South Asia
[edit] References
- ^ National Intelligence Estimate 60-66: The Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia), Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, Volume XXIV, Africa, 5 May 1966, FRUS-XXIV-1
- ^ "Summary", Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume E-5, Part 2, Documents on Africa, 1969-1972, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/e5part2/92738.htm
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Raj Preserved itself for time INFINITE as soon as POONA Pact was signed and the so called Independence of India was eventually only the Power Transfer to the Brahamin Bania Raj which has been trnsformed into CORPORATE LPG Mafia Formate in Post Modern Manusmriti Apartheid Raj.
Raj preserved even after Transfer of Poweras DECOLONISATION so hyped in contemporary History written by Ruling Hegemony, in fact, Never Happened.Not anywhere in this DIVIDED Bleeding Geopolitics.
KGB and CIA fought the Proxy war in Power Politics until SOVIET Disintegration and everyone knew about it. But CONITNUITY of Raj has never been EXPOSED and the SUBVERSION was the best ELEMENT of Colony whch continues even today making Indian Ocean the WAR and Civil war Zone with STRATEGIC Realliance in US Israel lead. OFFICIAL History of M 15 shows how NEHRU sustained the British Raj and allowed M15 to stop Communism. so much so that M15 did try its best to get RID of the Communist KGB backed VK menon. We never know who SAVED Nehru at the cost of Krishna Menon after Sino Indo war in 1962.But CIA, KGB and M15 played their role to preserve the Raj, which has just AMERICANISED with Zionist Link deleting the Communist element. Ruling Hegemony identifies its existence with the Preservation Of Raj sustaining Manusmriti Apartheid rule.
Maoists getting arms from China, it is Officially decalred now. On the other hand,CIA chief to visit India, LeT, Afghanistan on agenda!In line with growing intelligence cooperation between the two countries, CIA director Leon Panetta is slated to fly down to India in the next couple of weeks for discussions with top security officials here.
The visit comes at a time when Indian and US officials are working closely on revelations from investigations into the David Coleman Headley case where the role of the Lashkar-e-Toiba has once again strengthened New Delhi's case for stronger action against the LeT leadership, particularly Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.Indian Express reports.
NRI to head CIA's South Asia arm!Sumit Ganguly, who currently holds the Rabindranath Tagore [ Images ] Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilisations will soon be appointed the first National Intelligence Officer of the newly-formed South Asia Bureau in the National Intelligence Council, an appendage of the Central Intelligence Agency.
We know well about the Internal Security Hand Over to CIA and Mossad in South Asia. We know very little about KGB and M-15 activities undercover. India is, in fact, Never been DECOLONISED or Decoupled!We still breathe in COMMONWEALTH and the Queen, her Majesty heads the Commonwealth. We are so much so the part and parcel of commonwealth that Indian Capital, New delhi has to be remodelled and replanned for the Commonwealth Games 2010.
Ganguly, also a professor of political science and director of the Indian Studies Program at Indiana University in Bloomington, is the first Indian-American to serve in the NIC.
The NIC is the intelligence community's centre for mid-term and long-term strategic thinking.
Its National Intelligence Estimates on behalf of the Director of National Intelligence (the head of the CIA) are the most authoritative written judgments concerning national security issues.
The estimates also contain the coordinated judgments of the intelligence community regarding the likely course of future events.
The NIC claims that its goal is to provide the president and policymakers with the best, unvarnished, and unbiased information-- regardless of whether analytic judgments conform to US policy or not.
Although much of its work is for internal use, it also produces or commissions unclassified reports.
The primary functions of NIOs' are to advise the head of the CIA, interact regularly with senior intelligence consumers, produce top-quality estimative intelligence, engage with outside experts, help assess the capabilities and needs of the intelligence community's analytic producers and promote collaboration among them on strategic warning, advanced analytic tools and methodologies.
The GERP program, according to its website, 'enables senior government leaders to draw upon the best expertise the US has available, both inside and outside the intelligence community,' but contains the caveat that the program is 'not about being James Bond' [ Images ].
Intelligence sources told rediff.com that Ganguly's name was on a short list along with some leading high profile South Asia experts but that the latter had declined the full-time job, which is said to be for a minimum of two years.
Ganguly, who returned only last week from a two-week trip to China and India, did not want to comment on his still to be formalised appointment.
Before joining Indiana University, Ganguly was on the faculty of James Madison College of Michigan State University, Hunter College of the City University of New York and the University of Texas at Austin. He has also taught at Columbia University in New York City.
He has been a Fellow and a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington, DC and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University.
Ganguly's extensive research and writing focused on South Asia has been supported by grants from the Asia Foundation, the Ford [ Images ] Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the W Alton Jones Foundation.
He is the author, editor or co-editor of some 10 books on South Asia ranging from The Crisis of Kashmir [ Images ]: Portents of War, Hopes of Peace to Fearful Symmetry: India and Pakistan Under the Shadow of Nuclear Weapons.
Meanwhile,in a first such comment by any Indian official, union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai Sunday said he was 'sure' that Maoist guerrillas in India were acquiring weapons from China.
The leftist guerrillas follow 'the philosophy of Marxism and Leninism and have their own brand of ideology. The Chinese are large suppliers of small arms and I am sure the Maoists get it from them', Pillai told reporters here.
Pillai did not elaborate whether the Maoists were getting arms from Chinese arms smugglers or official agencies.
Asked whether the government had any information if the Maoists' links with China went beyond arms, he said: 'You should ask them (Maoists).'
Pillai had earlier linked Indian leftist insurgents with those in Nepal. But he maintained that there was no clear evidence about the Nepali Maoists assisting or providing arms to their Indian counterparts.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavorv and his British counterpart David Miliband today expressed the hope that their talks here will help improve ties between the two countries marred by a series of disputes recently.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today said attempts to justify repressions during the Stalinist regime on the pretext of ultimate state interests were unacceptable.
Pranab Dhal Samanta reports in Indian Express:
Also, sources said, the two sides need to carry forward their conversation on Afghanistan with the election impasse having ended in incumbent Hamid Karzai's favour. Indian assets in Afghanistan remain under constant threat just as US installations. There have been efforts to target the missions of both the countries in Kabul.
Significantly, the visit is planned for November 20-22, before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves for Washington on a state visit. Both sides have been exploring ways to intensify counter-terror cooperation through deeper interaction between intelligence and security agencies.
India was Panetta's first destination when he assumed office earlier this year. This is his second visit and he is expected to discuss ways of expanding intelligence sharing, which is vital for India given that US agencies are well entrenched in Pakistan.
During his stay, Panetta is expected to meet Home Minister P Chidambaram. Besides, he will hold detailed talks with National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, RAW chief K C Verma and director of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Rajiv Mathur.
Though an IB team is in the US these days for gathering more details on the Headley case from an Indian standpoint, sources said, India would like to hear from the CIA director his assessment of the case, the overall situation in Pakistan and the activities of anti-India terror groups like the LeT.
The CIA has been pushing for stepping up cooperation with India from a larger standpoint of fashioning US response to the region, be it Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Myanmar. China, sources added, is another important country on which both sides would exchange notes.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20091107/804/tnl-cia-chief-to-visit-india-let-afghani_1.html
Did British intelligence try to 'get rid' of Krishna Menon? | |||||||
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The transfer of power in India and Pakistan in 1947, despite the horrendous inter-communal carnage which accompanied it, happened in time to preserve a degree of official goodwill for post-imperial Britain. The last Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, was asked to stay on as governor general and the framework of the civil service of the civil service of the British Raj was largely preserved in independent India. What was not made public, however was that, during a visit to India in March 1947, the DDG (deputy director-general of MI5), Guy Liddell, obtained the agreement of the government of Jawaharlal Nehru for an MI5 security liaison officer (SLO) to be stationed in New Delhi after the end of British rule. Though the first SLO, Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Bourn, who had served in India with the Intelligence Corps during the war, stayed for only six months, he set an important precedent for the subsequent history of British decolonization. In all other newly independent Commonwealth countries, as in India, the continued presence of an SLO became a significant, though usually undisclosed, part of the transfer of power. For almost a quarter of a century, relations between the Security Service and its Indian counterpart, the Delhi Intelligence Branch (DIB or IB), were closer and more confident than those between any other departments of the British and Indian governments.
In June 1950 U'ren's (Bill U'ren the second SLO) successor as SLO, Eric Kitchin, another old India hand, reported that the first head of the independent DIB, T. G. Sanjevi, lost 'no opportunity of stressing the value which he places on maintaining our relationship on a professional and personal basis'. Liddell and Sanjevi were united in their deep distrust of the first Indian high commissioner in London, V. K. Krishna Menon, the Congress Party's leading left-wing firebrand who had spent most of his previous political career in Britain, founding the India League in 1932 to campaign for Indian independence and serving as a Labour councilor in London. In 1933 the Security Service had obtained an HOW on Menon on the grounds that he was an 'important worker in the Indian Revolutionary Movement' with links to the CPGB (Communist Party of Great Britain). To outward appearance, Menon seemed an Anglicized figure. The only language he spoke by the time he became high commissioner in 1947 was English, he disliked curry and much preferred a tweed jacket and flannel trousers to Indian dress. But Menon also had a passionate loathing for the British Raj which independence did little to abate. Though the JIC (joint intelligence committee) discussed the question of Communist influence at the Indian high commission, the discussion was considered so sensitive that no record was made of it. Liddell, however noted in his diary that he told the JIC, 'We were doing what we could to get rid of Krishna Menon.' The attempt failed. Though Menon was reported to be threatening to resign after press attacks in India, he was able to count on Nehru's support and did not do so. Fears of Menon's pro-Soviet sympathies were well founded. On at least one occasion during his later political career in India, the KGB paid his election expenses. Sanjevi's successor as head of the DIB, B.N. Mullik, was also an enthusiastic supporter of close liaison with the Security Service. In 1951, despite South African opposition, India (represented by Mullik), Pakistan and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) were invited to the Second Commonwealth Security conference in London along with the white dominions. Since the election victory in 1948 of Dr Daniel Malan's white-supremacist Nationalist Party it had proved more difficult to maintain intelligence liaison with South African than with India. The Security Service had no SLO in Pretoria. Sir Percy Sillitoe, who had spent his early career in the British South African and Northern Rhodesian police forces, visited South African in I949 and told Atlee afterwards that he was strongly opposed to the creation of a local security service. The improper uses to which a Security Service might be put by the Nationalists might well include its employment against the Parliamentary Opposition and against those members of the British community out of sympathy with the Nationalist political programme. It would certainly be used to keep down the black races.
There were no such sensitivities in sharing Security Service intelligence on Communist 'subversion' with Mullik and the DIB. When Walter Bell became SLO in New Delhi in 1952, he was encouraged by Mullik to visit DIB outstations as well as its headquarters. Bell found Mullik 'such an exceptional man, both personally and in the position which he held, that he was the fount of all knowledge that I wanted'. When Mullik visited London for the Third Security Conference in 1953, he told Hollis (Sir Roger Hollis, then DDG) 'that he thought the Intelligence Bureau was reasonably well informed about subversive activities within India, but he was not so well satisfied about his position on the counter-espionage side'. Mullik asked for an experienced counter-espionage officer to visit DIB headquarters and for help in training transcribers. During 1955, probably to Mullik's dismay, an exchange of state visits by Nehru and Nikita Khrushchev opened a new era in Indo-Soviet relations. American reliance on Pakistan as a strategic counterweight to Soviet influence in Asia encouraged India to turn to the USSR. The newly appointed SLO, John Allen, was understandably concerned about the possible impact on his relations with the DIB. He reported to Hollis in December: As you know, Mullik has always been anxious not to draw the attention of the Ministry of External Affairs (excluding {N.R}. Pillai, the Secretary-General, who, I suppose, is more in our confidence than any other Indian civil servant) to the existence of an SLO here, Mullik's opinion is that there are too many people in this Department who would be happy to break up the liaison. The fact that neither Mullik nor Pillai have sufficient confidence in the Prime Minister's continuing approval of the liaison willingly to draw his attention to it is a fair indication of the delicate path we tread. In 1956 Nehru declared that he had never encountered a 'grosser case of naked aggression' than the Anglo-French invasion of Suez, but failed to condemn the brutal Soviet suppression of the Hungarian Uprising in the same year. The chill in Indo-British diplomatic relations, however, had little impact on collaboration between the DIB and MI5. A steady stream of DIB officers attended Security Service training courses in London. At Mullik's request, a D Branch officer was sent to India in 1957 to undertake a detailed review of the DIB's counter-espionage operations against the Soviet Union and propose improvements. Arrangements were also made for a Service expert on the CPGB to visit New Delhi to study DIB records on the finances of the Communist Party of India (CPI), which received regular secret subsidies from Moscow. After returning to London for the 1957 Commonwealth Security Conference, Mullik wrote to Hollis, who had succeeded White as DG: "In my talks and discussions, I never felt that I was dealing with any organisation which was not my own. Besides, this, the hospitality and kindness which all of you showed me was also quite overwhelming.' Hollis visited the DIB in 1958 and noted afterwards that Mullik's views on Communist penetration were closer to his own than to those of the Indian government. But the SLO, John Allen, feared that, with 'so many unfavourable political winds blowing' between India and Britain, if Nehru realised how close collaboration between the DIB and MI5 was, he would probably forbid much of it. Nehru, however, either never discovered how close the relationship was or – less probably – did discover and took no action.
In the view of the Security Service, the DIB was increasingly unequal to coping with the growing Soviet intelligence presence in India, greater than in any other country in the developing world. In February 1964, three months before Nehru's death, Director E (then responsible for overseas counter-subversion, intelligence organisation and liaison, a veteran of the Indian police under the British Raj, visited New Delhi to discuss training and counter-espionage with the DIB: Despite minor successes, the overall impression of the Bureau's work against the huge Soviet Embassy staff is depressing indeed. Politicians and many officials do not even recognise that there is any threat, and there is no attempt to limit the movements of the Russians. In effect they are having an almost free run for their money both in the espionage and subversive fields. KGB records reveal that this assessment was well founded. Its residency in New Delhi was rewarded for its operational successes by being upgraded to the status of 'main residency'. Oleg Kalugin, who became head of counter-intelligence in KGB foreign intelligence (and its youngest general) in 1973, remembers India as 'a model of KGB infiltration of a Third World government'. India under Nehru's daughter and successor, Indira Gandhi, was probably also the arena for more KGB 'active measures' than anywhere else in the world. Successive SLOs' close relations with the DIB made their inside information on Indian politics and government polity of increasing value to the British high commission at a time when the Soviet Union, through KGB and well as overt channels, was attempting to establish a special relationship with India. In 1965, a year after Nehru's death, the high commissioner, John Freeman, wrote to Hollis to say how much he valued the SLO's information: 'his liaison is one which continues unaffected by changed in Indo-British relations. In 1967 the SLO recruited as his clerical assistant the future DG, Stella Rimington, whose husband was a first secretary at the high commission. The SLO lived in some style. 'He was, Rimington recalls, 'best known for his excellent Sunday curry lunches, which usually went on well into the evening, and for driving round Delhi in a snazzy old Jaguar.' |
10 things that have changed since Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi means different things to different people. Some remember her as the person who brought machismo to Indian politics. They rememberOthers remember her for imposing the Emergency, the scary midnight knock, for jailing almost the entire political Opposition, intimidating and muzzling the press. They remember her for her left-wing politics, her obsessive anti-Americanism , the devaluation of the Indian rupee, the destruction of our democratic institutions, Kissa Kursi Ka, Turkmen Gate, Dhirendra Brahmachari and his infamous gun factory, coterie politics and the kitchen cabinet she ran.
She was the most dramatic face of Indian politics, adored by many, reviled by as many. But what is more interesting is how much India has changed since that fateful day in October when those two young Sikh guards, part of her own security detail, pumped 31 bullets into Mrs Gandhi and ended a turbulent chapter in India's history.
1) HOLDING THE 'FOREIGN HAND'
To begin with, we have seen the end of the demonisation of the US. The nuclear deal that Manmohan Singh signed with George Bush brought to a close the deeprooted suspicion with which the world's two biggest democracies viewed each other for over four decades. Indira Gandhi saw the dirty hand of the CIA behind every political move against her. Today, the FBI helps us fight terrorism on this subcontinent. India and the US plan joint tactical exercises, share intelligence, discuss a common strategy to keep Afghanistan and Pakistan out of the hands of extremist groups. What a change from Mrs Gandhi's time when she attributed every global ill and almost all of India's economic woes to US imperialism and the evils of Western-style capitalism.
2) SOCIALISM'S LAST SIGH
With anti-US sentiment dying down, so has rampant socialist rhetoric. In fact, we rarely hear of socialism today (although last year's global economic meltdown has given it a temporary lease of life). Most of the socialist parties have packed up or morphed into regional entities. The old socialists in the Congress are now full-time propagandists for economic reforms and public-private partnership. If the West had not been hit by recession — exposing the dark, greedy underbelly of capitalism — India would have by now gone full-throttle on reforms. Our caution and circumspection are actually the outcome of what has happened in the US since September 15, 2008 when Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11. Mrs Gandhi's 97 per cent income tax is now down to a much saner 30 per cent and if the Model Tax Code comes through, it may even come down to 25 per cent.
3) DOOR DARSHAN
Indira Gandhi would also be startled to see where the media, which she so deeply mistrusted, has reached today. Her favorite instrument for disseminating political news, Doordarshan, is deader than the T-Rex and 500 independent channels have blossomed in its place. Print, which is crumbling worldwide, is still doing fine in India and the number of newspapers and magazines has grown exponentially since her time. People are now consuming news across many new media platforms, mostly the internet. Even that is likely to change with the spectacular growth of the cellphone, which is now predicted to be the next big platform for both news-seekers and entertainment junkies. No, the Om Mehtas and VC Shuklas can't manage or intimidate the media any more. Whoever's in power now, however mighty the mandate may be, has no option but to learn to live with it.
4) LICENCE TO THRIVE
Another change is the crumbling of her license raj. It is no longer possible to control Indian industry or enterprise in the way she once did. Regardless of how much further reforms go, one thing is certain: Indian entrepreneurs have shrugged off the shackles of state interference and shown that they can do business better than anyone anywhere in the world. A new corporate elite has emerged that is now part of the national decision making process. Businessmen are no longer seen as political pariahs. They are part of the new power bloc in Parliament and some of them have even joined government. Several politicians have business empires of their own and lobbying before the Union budget is considered legitimate activity these days.
5) BACKWARDS FORWARD
Indira Gandhi may have used poverty and backwardness to further her political cause, but never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined the power that the backwards have gained in the past two decades. What began with VP Singh and the Mandal Commission is now an irreversible part of the political process, so much so that the upper castes find themselves pretty much cornered in terms of seats in educational institutions, government jobs, and other domains they once controlled. Even the middle class is now demanding more merit-based opportunities, but reservations have acquired a life of their own and are growing wherever you look. Some states are even asking for job reservations for backwards in the private sector. Luckily, the business lobby is now strong enough to fend for itself. Indian society is finding its own balance and fine-tuning its sense of social justice.
6) 'A' FOR ASPIRATION
In Indira Gandhi's world, English was a foreign language and Hindi was the language of governance . So Shrikant Verma went about formulating an official government policy on how to promote Hindi. Every ministry, every public sector undertaking had a department for the promotion of Hindi. The result was predictable. Many states like Tamil Nadu protested violently against its imposition while others went out of their way to promote regional languages in affairs of the state, to checkmate the rise of Hindi. Today, English is widely accepted as an Indian language. We write and speak it better than most people in the English-speaking world. It's the language of higher education, technology, business and global trade. Barring a few crackpots, no one challenges its importance in modern India. On the other hand, Bollywood has made Hindi everyone's language. No one resists it any more; what state policy couldn't accomplish, popular culture has.
7) ASCENT OF WOMAN
Politics was entirely male-dominated during Mrs Gandhi's time. There's no better proof of that than the fact that she was often described as the only person wearing trousers in her cabinet. There was hardly any representation for women and Mrs Gandhi preferred it that way. She enjoyed being the sole woman playing hardball in Indian politics. Today, not only has gender representation in public life become more balanced, Sonia, Mamata, Mayawati and Jayalalithaa are controlling Indian politics. Today, we have a woman as President, a woman as Speaker in the Lok Sabha, and a woman as president of the ruling Congress . Now, all we need is a woman as leader of the Opposition. It's not just in politics that women are asserting themselves. Look at society, and at the rise of female sexuality. And popular culture is beginning to reflect the change.
8) GAMCHHA TO GUCCI
Mrs Gandhi would have found it difficult to imagine the rise of consumer culture that has slowly but defiantly crept into post-Gandhian polity and society. It began with the Mont Blanc pen her son Rajiv flaunted , which then became every Congressman's dream accessory. Later, the Rolex watch became every MP's badge of honor. Today, frugality has been given short shrift and, despite everyone talking about austerity, MPs turn up in Parliament in flashy SUVs. Lutyens homes are being redesigned by fashionable interior decorators . Chief ministers are flying around in smart jets. The Prime Minister has his own Boeing. The khadi has yielded way to Armani suits, Vertus and LVs. Fashion, luxury brands, a five-star lifestyle: it's all part of our politics today. Just as it is with India's postliberalisation society. .
9) STATELY RULE
Indira Gandhi successfully crushed all regional satraps. She wanted total power, and no one around could stand up to her or challenge her authority. Today, the Congress is in power in the states with the support of strong regional parties with independent-minded leaders like Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and Omar Abdullah in Jammu & Kashmir. In Tamil Nadu, it has aligned with Karunanidhi and the DMK. This is an age of coalitions — holy or unholy. (Mrs Gandhi's grandson, Rahul's agenda seems to be more aggressive than his mother's : One of them is to restore the Congress to a position where it doesn't need to bank on outside support.)
10) BOLLYWOOD'S STAR TURN
Finally, what no one could have foreseen is the rise and rise of Bollywood as India's one truly global industry (more than even IT; it is the one industry where it's clearly world No 1). During Mrs Gandhi's time, the film industry wasn't a power centre. It was heavily taxed, frequently raided, used at election time and shunned thereafter. Those who stood up to her were badly mauled, like Kishore Kumar, who was banned on AIR and put through a series of tax raids because he refused to perform at her command during the Emergency. Dev Anand, who backed the Janata Party, was also in the doghouse. Today, no party can fight an election without the enormous campaigning power of Bollywood . Her son Rajiv began it all by fielding Amitabh Bachchan from Allahabad. Today Shah Rukh Khan is a Congress favourite and before every election rumors fly that he will campaign for the party. He never does. Bollywood stars are now allowed to have a mind of their own.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/10-things-that-have-changed-since-Indira-Gandhi/articleshow/5206349.cms
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CIA activities in India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
India has conflicts with several of its neighbors: Pakistan, China, and Sri Lanka. The situation in Sri Lanka pits a Sinhalese-majority population, against the Tamil minority. Many of these conflicts stay at the level of intelligence and special operations, but periodically break into major conflict.
The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is India's foreign intelligence organization, while the Intelligence Bureau (IB) is responsible for counterintelligence. The military has a separate Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) India prides itself as having a history of skilled intelligence going back to antiquity.[1]
CIA activities in India need to be seen in the context that India and its neighbors involve a complex interplay among their intelligence services, as well as interested services from the US, UK, Russia, Israel and China.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] India 1955
A chartered Indian airliner, Kashmir Princess, was bombed. There is substantial evidence that the Kuomintang (Taiwan) service may have planted it, attempting to assassinate Zhou Enlai, who had been expected on it. CIA involvement is much less clear, although some general claims are made in the linked article.
In a 1971 face-to-face meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Zhou directly asked Henry Kissinger about US involvement, whose response included the line "As I told the Prime Minister the last time, he vastly overestimates the competence of the CIA."[2] Kissinger denied any US policy to kill him, and the two discussed the CIA at some length, in a manner unusual to find in US records.
[edit] India 1958
India's nuclear programs were assessed.[3]
[edit] India 1965
SNIE 31-1-65 examined India's nuclear weapons policy for the remainder of the 1960s. In doing so, it examines India's technical capabilities, the pressures for a weapons program, and the opposition to a weapons program. A final section, "The Indian Decision," tries to assess India's decision calculus and notes that India might try to represent any underground test as being for peaceful purposes.[4]
[edit] India 1968
When India's intelligence community was built around RAW in 1968, RAW's first director, R.N. Kao, held meetings with his CIA counterparts in the U.S., as well as the United Kingdom's SIS and the Soviet Union KGB. Much of the liaison was essentially political in character — what is today known as `back channel diplomacy' — but RAW's special operations and SIGINT/IMINT unit, the Aviation Research Centre, received technical assistance from the U.S. in return for information on China.[5]
[edit] India 1969-1974
[edit] India 1974
India's first nuclear test, on India's May 18, 1974, was a surprise to the Intelligence Community, although the overall nuclear program and incentives to build a bomb had been discussed.[6]
"India conducted an underground nuclear test at a site in the desert at Pokhran - making it the world's seventh nuclear power and the sixth to test (Israel having achieved nuclear status in 1966 without testing). India claimed as CIA analysts had previously suggested it might that the test was for peaceful purposes. This Top Secret Codeword item in the Central Intelligence Bulletin relays press reporting and public statements by officials of other governments, including Pakistan, and contains analysts assessments of the implications for China.[7] As predicted in the 1965 SNIE 31-1-65, the test was described as being for peaceful purposes.[4]
[edit] India 1984
Sheel Bhadra Yagee claimed that the CIA orchestrated the Sikh uprising which later led to Indira Gandhi assassination by her Sikh body guards.[8][clarification needed]
[edit] India 1985
In 1985, according to Frontline magazine, RAW counter-intelligence obtained a confession, from a field officer in Chennai to admit that he had passed on sensitive information to the CIA and Sri Lankan intelligence. RAW confronted him with footage showing him making contact with a U.S. national on a beach in Chennai and at a resort in Kerala. RAW had sought to tighten in-house security after the public fracas that broke out in the wake of the scandal. The Chennai case was a particular embarrassment because it came hot on the heels of another spy scandal" involving French and Polish intelligence.[9]
[edit] India 1987
In 1987, when the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was in Sri Lanka, Paranthan Rajan came into contact with RAW officials.[10] He came to Indian intelligence officials' attention when he formed a political group, Tamileela Iykkia Viduthalai Munnani. Given his background, observers feel Rajan's alliance with Karuna might be RAW's handiwork.
[edit] India 1992
In 1992, the State Department threatened to impose economic sanctions on India after it refused permission for US sleuths to go on an aerial-photography mission along the Sino-Indian border.[5]
[edit] India 2001
India's ballistic missile capabilities were addressed in a National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded that New Delhi believes that a nuclear-capable missile delivery option is necessary to deter Pakistani first use of nuclear weapons and thereby preserve the option to wage limited conventional war in response to Pakistani provocations in Kashmir or elsewhere. Nuclear weapons also serve as a hedge against a confrontation with China. New Delhi views the development, not just the possession, of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles as the symbols of a world power and an important component of self-reliance.[11]
[edit] India 2002
Until recently, only RAW was authorised to have contacts with foreign intelligence agencies — and the job was restricted to a select few within its ranks. Under the National Democratic Alliance coalition government, RAW, IB, and DIA could interact with counterpart organizations in other countries. Former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, for example, met the heads of the CIA and Israel's Mossad along with Intelligence Bureau staff.[12][citation needed] Brajesh Mishra, former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is known to have had direct contact with the head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence as well. While meetings in themselves are not inappropriate, they can lead to the breakdown of protocols - for example, that intelligence officers will meet a foreign contact only in teams of two - and eventual penetration.[9] There is little oversight of this process, which has had the unexpected consequence that "hundreds of Indian agents have been exposed, the term professionals use to describe individuals whose real jobs are known to foreign intelligence organisations. "As things stand," says a senior RAW officer, 'we hardly have anyone left who can serve in a genuine covert role.'".[citation needed]
Rabinder Singh has been described, in Indian media, as a CIA asset inside the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the national intelligence service. It is not clear if he is a member of a larger clandestine HUMINT network. The suggestion has already been made by a number of well-placed observers that he had acted as a conduit or cutout for a number of highly placed US 'assets' operating deep within the Indian intelligence community, the military and scientific centres working on nuclear and missile development, and others inside the political establishment.
The issue also involved problems with the Intelligence Bureau, the domestic security agency, and an overall concern with trust of security officers.
In 2002, Singh visited the US under a liaison initiative based on counter-terror, teaching skills for hostage negotiation and dealing with hijackers. Singh, however, is a Southeast Asia analyst not working on terror issues.[13].
In 2002, the last year for which figures are available, the U.S. hosted 80 courses for officers from India, along with 17 other countries in Asia and Africa. "Intelligence cooperation and liaison have always been chaotic," says former RAW officer and analyst B. Raman, "but we cannot afford complacency any more."
[edit] India 2004
Singh disappeared from India in May 2004, and has applied for asylum in the US. [12]Frontline, an Indian newsmagazine, described him as "Joint Secretary handling South-East Asia" for RAW.[13] He came to RAW as an Indian Army major, who had "served with distinction in Amritsar during Operation Bluestar, the counter-terrorist assault on the Golden Temple in 1984. At some point after this, he again attracted the attention of his superiors, this time by procuring classified U.S. government documentation.
"Rabinder Singh's source seems to have been one of his relatives, a U.S. citizen who has worked for over two decades with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Rabinder Singh's relative is alleged to have visited India regularly on official work, sometimes staying at his residence. This relationship, RAW investigators claim, enabled Rabinder Singh to pass on documents with only a minimal risk of exposure.
"In the early 1980s, the son of then RAW chief N. Narasimhan left the U.S. after efforts were made to approach the spy chief through him. Narasimhan's son had been denied a visa extension, and was offered its renewal in return for his cooperation with the U.S.' intelligence services. "Not all," says a senior RAW officer, "would respond with such probity."[9]
[edit] India 2006
Charges against Singh were filed in 2006. The RAW charges said that they had located Singh in New Jersey and the process should start to seek his extradition."Now, we will be moving to extradite Singh from the US," stated the complaint. The Home Ministry had earlier invoked the National Security Act and issued orders to attach Singh's property.[14]
After losing a first petition for asylum in the US, Singh won on appeal.[15]
Singh is not the only person in international controversy. Sri Lanka's Army-backed Tamil paramilitary group, the ENDLF, is seeking recruits amongst Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu, offering hefty salaries. The recruitment is being conducted with the knowledge of India's external intelligence agency, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), the report added. The ENDLF, reportedly headed by Paranthan Rajan, has been recruiting cadres for the Karuna Group (named after the renegade LTTE commander who heads it) from refugee camps in Tamil Nadu.[10]
"Rajan's unusually lengthy stay in India — he first arrived in India in 1990 — and his unrestricted movement here, coupled with his anti-LTTE activities on Indian soil, are seen as concrete proof that he is a RAW agent," the website said. The recently defeated Jayalalithaa government had arrested Rajan in 2004 – observers feel that he misread signals following Jayalalithaa's crackdown on pro-LTTE groups in Tamil Nadu and felt he could have a free run with his anti-LTTE propaganda. But he was released at the behest of RAW, the report said.
The ENDLF is being used by RAW to as a rallying point of anti-LTTE groups, the report said. Rajan's actions could have had RAW's blessings as it might have had an interest in promoting Karuna and neutralising LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan's appeal in Tamil Nadu, the report said.
[edit] References
- ^ Hali, SM (February-March 1999), "Raw at War-Genesis of Secret Agencies in Ancient India", Defence Journal (Pakistan), http://www.defencejournal.com/feb-mar99/raw-at-war.htm
- ^ Memorandum of coversation (Henry Kissinger, Zhou Enlai, and staff), Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume E-13, Documents on China, 1969-1972, October 21, 1971, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/e13/72454.htm
- ^ Office of Scientific Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, (February 18, 1958) (PDF), Indian Nuclear Energy Program, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB187/IN01.pdf
- ^ a b Central Intelligence Agency (October 21, 1965) (PDF), SNIE 31-1-65: India's Nuclear Weapons Policy, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB187/IN09.pdf
- ^ a b Chaulia, Sreeram (August 18, 2007), Book review: India's silent warriors,The Kaoboys of R&AW: Down Memory Lane by B Raman, http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IH18Df03.html
- ^ Richelson, Jeffrey, ed. (April 13, 2006), U.S. Intelligence and the Indian Bomb: Documents Show U.S. Intelligence Failed to Warn of India's Nuclear Tests Despite Tracking Nuclear Weapons Potential Since 1950s, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 187, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB187/index.htm
- ^ Central Intelligence Agency (May 20, 1974) (PDF), India [Redacted], Central Intelligence Bulletin, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB187/IN17.pdf
- ^ Yajee, Sheel Bhadra (1985), CIA Operations Against the Third World, Criterion Publications, pp. 120–39
- ^ a b c Swami, Praveen (June 19, 2004), "Our Man in New Delhi", Frontline (The Hindu) 21 (13), http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2113/stories/20040702004403200.htm
- ^ a b "India & the Struggle for Tamil Eelam: RAW aiding paramilitary recruitment in India", TamilNet, June 25, 2006, http://www.tamilnation.org/intframe/india/060626raw.htm
- ^ Central Intelligence Agency (December 2001), Foreign Missile Developments and the Ballistic Missile Threat Through 2015; Unclassified Summary of a National Intelligence Estimate, http://www.fas.org/irp/nic/bmthreat-2015.htm
- ^ a b Bennett, Richard M (September 7, 2004), "For the US: India's untrustworthy", Rediff India Abroad, http://www.indiaabroad.com/news/2004/sep/07guest.htm
- ^ a b Swami, Praveen (June 14, 2004), "Open doors for mole recruitment", The Hindu, http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/06/14/stories/2004061408020100.htm
- ^ Tripathi, Rahul (November 2, 2006), "Rabinder in US, we want him back: RAW in court", IndianExpress.com, http://www.indianexpress.com/story/15865.html
- ^ Surender Jeet Singh vs. John Ashcroft, [1] (United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit November 1, 2004).
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| 30.09.2005 The Indian Playground of the Soviet KGB | ||||||||||||
| Pavel Simonov, AIA Russian section | ||||||||||||
Indian ex- and current officials did not save on invectives, splashing torrents of them on the late Mitrokhin, his co-author Christopher Andrew, the book, the files and the publishers. "Lies", "silly allegations", "blasphemy", "rubbish" – that is a short list of the terms the Indians are using, describing the book. I would like to quote several pieces from the Hindustan Times' article " Mitrokhin revelations silly, say Indian spies ", which, strangely enough disappeared from the website of the newspaper (http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1496029,0008.htm), but thanks to GOOGLE, it was found as a cached copy.
Dhar, who knew the former secretary of the Bengal Communist Party in his personal capacity, said " Promode Dasgupta was a man who had no home, no family. He lived in Alimuddin Street in the most austere manner. There was no sign of affluence about him. He could not have been on the payroll of any intelligence organization. Dasgupta was a real revolutionary. Anyone who casts doubt on him must produce proof as I can state from person knowledge that he was a very honest person". Dhar similarly rubbishes allegations that the CIA (the ex-director meant the KGB - P.S.) probably funded former PM Indira Gandhi, "It is a matter of record that Mrs G did use the communists to stabilize her government and negotiate with Moscow, but for anyone to say that she directly received material benefit from any quarter is ridiculous," he told HT. Former Intelligence Bureau director, V.G. Vaidya, now in Pune, was unwilling to comment on the allegations since he had not read the book. He, however, said, "Anyone can write anything. It does not mean that the world has to accept it as Gospel truth. One must remember that American author Seymour Hersh had written that Morarji Desai was on the CIA payroll when he (Desai) was Indira Gandhi's deputy. But then Morarji Desai sued him," Vaidya recalled. Serving intelligence officials are, similarly, dismissive about the Mitrokhin book. A few admitted that they wanted to read the book "out of curiosity" but maintained that the allegations publicised so far appeared to lack credibility. "These things do take place. Agencies routinely pay people who can access information in a foreign country. But to suggest that Mrs. Gandhi was taking money is downright stupidity," said one official. Another official was more forthright. "If a serving Prime Minister needs money, there is no dearth of means to get it. Why would any PM, let alone a dynamic person like Mrs. Gandhi, run the risk of taking money from a foreign power?" The politicians, mostly from the parties connected to those, who were on KGB payroll also sounded their protest in various forms. A good example is the CPM, which plans to sue a national daily that carried excerpts of a former KGB agent's book and to take legal action against domestic publishers of the controversial Mitrokhin's book. Penguin India is expected to release the book in mid-October and it expects a fight. "This is beyond imagination that a leader like Indira Gandhi would be influenced by such things," Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh said adding, "it is a malicious propaganda." There were also those, who demanded to ban the book in India. Well, the Indian government has shown a good sense and made it clear that it had no intention to ban Mitrokhin Archive II. "I am in the business of providing more freedom, not for denying it," Information and Broadcasting Minister Jaipal Reddy said. But lets consider an option that Mitrokhin really lying? Who can believe the "traitor, who sold the secrets of his Communist Motherland" to the "imperialist pigs"? Maybe his Archive is just a pile of disinformation collected or fabricated by the British? It is known that they had "some misunderstandings" with India in the past and they might have just avenged some old offence by publishing the second part of Archive after Mitrokhin's death, stuffing it with KGB related rumors? The first volume of the Archive was really good, so they just used the good name to get even with Gandhi clan? I did not read this book yet. I have ordered it, but frankly I am not going to be surprised by the revelations from the second volume of the Archive. Who needs a "traitor " Mitrokhin, when the KGB ex-officials, still sitting high in the Russian government publish their memoirs full of stories of the bribery of the Indian officials? Of course they are published in Russian and for some unknown reason are not translated yet to English. Lets take just a few of these books. Leonid Shebarshin, ex-chief of the Soviet Foreign Intelligence Service, a deputy chairman of the KGB from 1989 to 1991, the ex-head of the whole Soviet "residentura" in India, wrote a fascinating book "The Hand of Moscow". One of the brightest Russian journalists Leonid Mlechin wrote a heavy "Foreign Intelligence Service - Special File" dedicating huge part of it to the "Indian Mafia" in the KGB, and to its heads – Shebarshin and Vyacheslav Trubnikov, the ex-chief of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service and the ex-head of the whole Soviet "residentura" in India, who is currently the Russian ambassador to India! Captain Vadim Sopriakov, professional spy and saboteur of the KGB, who also worked in India, published his "The East is a Delicate Business". These three books give a perfect picture of the KGB's involvement in the India's internal and foreign policy. Here is a small aperitif from Mlechin's book - an official document of the KGB: To: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR The KGB is currently conducting contacts with Rajiv Gandhi, the son of the Prime Minister of India. (according to the Central Committee's approval over the KGB note num. 1413-A/OB from 14.07.80.) Rajiv Gandhi is truly thankful for the financial support to his family, which comes owing to the commercial deals of the company controlled by him with the Soviet state foreign trade companies. In a confiding talks Gandhi noted that most of the financial means coming through this channel are used to support the Rajiv Gandhi's Party. The head of the Committee V. Chebrikov (12.02.83)
The only opponents of the KGB operatives in India were the agents of the other foreign countries- the USA, Britain, etc. And they were not considered friendly ones by the Indian counterespionage. It was easy to recruit foreign citizens and agents, blackmailing them with threats to turn over to the Indian authorities as the spies. India was the place, where and from where the KGB conducted it biggest operations and actions, unanimously claim the authors of all the abovementioned books. For example it is from India to the world came the rumor of the USA using the chemical and biological weapons in Vietnam. The KGB initiated it and later the Soviet doctors "proved" it as if they have tested the victims. The Indian department of the KGB was named "The Indian Mafia" and was the most powerful department in the force, some kind of the KGB inside the KGB. The proof of that was already mentioned – the heads of the Indian "residentura" turned to be the heads of the KGB and its successor –SVR – the Russian Foreign Intelligence. As for recruiting the local politicians it was also a walk in the park. Of course everything was done confidentially, for not to let the foreign spies know who is on the KGB's payroll and use it to blackmail parties and officials. Captain Vadim Sopriakov dedicated a whole chapter to the story of recruiting the high-ranking Indian official. Of course, it is impossible to know whom exactly did he recruited, for he calls him "Herman". The KGB's agent-to-be visited Europe for many times and was a good source of information. How good? As good as can be a man who lives in a palace and can receive an urgent letter from the head of the state at 02:00 PM. As for the book of Leonid Shebarshin, the feeling after reading it is that one of the main goals of the KGB in India was to guarantee that Gandhi's party remains at power. It was a kind of symbiosis – the KGB sustains the Party, the Party covers its actions. Shebarshin was very accurate not to name anybody influential, but he implies many interesting details, such as that the KGB was "buying" or at least creating strong connections not only with the active politicians but with the "retired" power brokers, those who stood behind the ruling family – ex-ministers, friends of the family, sponsors. And another point, it made no difference whether the politician was taking money for himself, buying palaces, or just for his party, continuing to live from the scraps. It was still a payroll of the KGB… It is impossible to cram the contents of several books into one article, but the point is that Mitrokhin's Archive II is not the book Indian officials – current and retired has to fear. They are being quietly sold out by their ex-recruiters, who can, if they want, or asked by their superiors, tell the whole story not in Russian, but in English, as the Mitrokhin's Archives are published… Related items: History of Indo-Soviet Military Cooperation Milestones in the History of Indo-Soviet Relations Military Cooperation between Russia and India (1991 – 2005) Military Cooperation Between Russia and India in 2004-2005 Milestones in the History of Indo-Russian Military Cooperation The Soviet and Russian Weapons of the Indian Defense Forces BrahMos Russian - Indian Enterprise |
IntelliBriefs: How the KGB bought India
Even in India everything was blamed on the CIA. Nothing much was known about the activities and operations of the KGB. But now with these books, ...
intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2005/.../how-kgb-bought-india.html - Cached - Similar -Demand for Commission of Inquiry to expose KGB agents in India ...
3 Oct 2005 ... Demand for Commission of Inquiry to expose KGB agents in India Petition, hosted at PetitionOnline.com.
www.petitiononline.com/kgbindia/petition.html - Cached - Similar -KGB records show how spies penetrated the heart of India - Times ...
A HUGE cache of KGB records smuggled out of Moscow after the fall of communism reveal that in the 1970s India was one of the countries most successfully ...
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article567444.ece - Similar -'KGB revelations biggest scandal in India'
India's KGB Hands
India's KGB connections deserve nothing less. This is not a le Carre novel; it's a matter of India's honour. Express Specials ...
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17 Sep 2005 ... THE MITROKHIN ARCHIVE, VOLUME II: THE KGB AND THE WORLDby Christopher Andrew and Vasili MitrokhinTo be published by PenguinINDIRA GANDHI ...
entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and.../article567013.ece - Similar -How the KGB bought India- Hindustan Times
1 Mar 2007 ... On why he concluded that Indira Gandhi knew nothing about the suitcases of money that the KGB was providing the Congress Party. ...
www.hindustantimes.com/...KGB...India/Article1-36049.aspx - Cached - Similar -Hindustan Times - KGB fished in India waters during cold war Commu...
KGB fished in India waters during cold war Communist Soviet Union had a running operation in India during cold war era largely to indulge in.
www.shvoong.com/newspapers/india/.../9415-hindustan-times/ - Cached - Similar -The KGB and Indian Democracy « Asian Correspondent
18 Sep 2005 ... The KGB, as the other spy in the real life adaptation of the Mad Spy Versus Spy, was as active I conjectured. Clearly India had enough ...
us.asiancorrespondent.com/.../the-kgb-and-indian-democracy - Cached - Similar -
Qaeda feels unsafe near Pakistan border - CIA chief
Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:58pm IST
By Randall Mikkelsen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leaders no longer feel safe in Afghan-Pakistan border areas, where they face heavy U.S. and Pakistani pressure and their local welcome has worn out, CIA chief Michael Hayden said on Thursday.
Hayden's comments to reporters as he prepares to leave his post underscored a growing Bush administration confidence that al Qaeda's leadership has been crippled, partly by a military campaign that Washington does not acknowledge.
Hayden also said in the wide-ranging discussion he believed Iran was nearing a decision on whether to proceed with development of a nuclear weapon.
He stood by his defense of CIA waterboarding and said that regardless of whether the agency's harsh interrogations will be judged worth the widespread condemnation, they worked.
"The agency did none of this out of enthusiasm. It did it out of duty, and it did it with the best legal advice," he said. "I am convinced that the program got the maximum amount of information. ... I just can't conceive of any other way."
Hayden said a disappointment of his 2 1/2-year term was that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was still at large. But he said bin Laden and top lieutenants were no longer secure in the Pakistan mountain hide-outs believed to be hiding them.
"The great danger was that -- I'm going to use a little euphemism here -- the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan was a safe haven for al Qaeda," Hayden said. "It is my belief that the senior leadership of al Qaeda today believes that it is neither safe, nor a haven. That is a big deal in defending the United States."
An audio message from bin Laden this week may have been intended in part simply to show he was still alive, Hayden suggested.
http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-37476020090116
CIA's Eye on South Asia
This book offers an insight into the working of the world's foremost spy agency through various reports presented to top US officials from 1951-2001.
These previously secret CIA reports have become available largely because of a recent Presidential Executive order which ushered in a golden era of declassification in the United States. Unlikely all other foreign intelligence agencies, the Central Intelligence Agency undertakes large-scale declassification. In about a decade, the Agency screened about 95 million records - mostly held in the Agency Archives and Records Center in Langley - and released 30 million of them. This treasure trove of information contains plenty of material on South Asia.
Reproduced in this book are the reports on India's policy through the Nehru-Shastri-Indira-Morarji-Rajiv-Gowda years, drifts in Pakistan's external outlook, the question of US military aid to Pakistan, India-China War of 1962, politics of undivided Communist Party of India, the Soviet policy toward Kashmir, the Bangladesh war, South Asia power matrix, nuclear proliferation in the region, Emergency in India, Islamic economy drive under Zia-ul-Haq, Rajiv Gandhi's handling of a major espionage scandal, the BJP's orientation - and numerious other dispatches.
Especially narrated by the author is the story of India's biggest spy scandal, which tarnished the image of no less than a former Prime Minister and two Deputy Prime Ministers. The author pieces together the account of how a cabinet minister, and a CIA operative, wrecked India's plan to annihilate Pakistan in 1971.
Contents:
1. Early Assessments (1951-1964)
2. India-China Relations
3. Crisis in Kashmir
4. Birth of Bangladesh
5. Nuclear Proliferation
6. Regional Politics
7. Later Assessments (1974-2001)
Author: Anuj Dhar
ISBN: 978-81-7049-3464
Pages: 492
http://www.lancerpublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=633
The Defence of the Realm, By Christopher Andrew
Reviewed by Susan Williams
Friday, 16 October 2009
The fact that this is not so much "a" history of MI5 as "the authorized history" is underlined by its sombre black jacket, which gives it the appearance of a British government document. In a very real sense, it is. For although the book has been commercially published and Christopher Andrew is an academic historian, it was commissioned by MI5. Once he had been appointed to the post of official historian, the book was written on MI5 premises.
This is a centenary history, starting with the founding of the security service in 1909. In the following year, MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) were created as separate services. Andrew engagingly charts the evolution of MI5 through two world wars, the Cold War, and now the war against fundamentalist terrorists.
Inevitably, the agency's focus has shifted from counter-espionage and counter-subversion to counter-terrorism. What hasn't changed is its clandestine nature. The existence of MI5 was not acknowledged officially until 1979, when Mrs Thatcher unmasked Sir Anthony Blunt as the Fourth Man in a statement to the Commons.
MI5 has to tread a wire: it needs to be secret to protect parliamentary democracy, but is under pressure to be as transparent as possible. This has led to an uneasy compromise. Andrew was given unrestricted access to almost 400,000 files, but most are referenced only as "Security Service Archives" and closed to the rest of us.
This puts him in a difficult position: if he can't share his key sources, he must ask his readers to take his analysis on trust. We have only limited means of evaluating MI5's official view, as transmitted by Andrew, on various critical issues – such as the "Wilson plot" of the 1970s or the "Death on the Rock" episode in Gibraltar in 1988.
Publicity material for the book has filled newspapers with stories of double agents and courageous derring-do. But what also emerges from these pages is a fascinating picture of MI5 as a tightly-knit institution, thriving on its atmosphere of secrecy. "No one, not even our own families, should be told where we worked or for whom," was the firm instruction to a new employee in 1931. Morale sank after the end of the Cold War and the Good Friday agreement of 1998, which led to massive cutbacks. But after 9/11, there was a rapid expansion of staff and a renewed sense of purpose.
The Service had a choral society, which takes its name "The Oberon Singers" from Oberon's words in A Midsummer Night's Dream – "We are invisible, we will o'er hear their conference." It also had a cricket team and cricket imagery frequently appears in correspondence. "So the first XI of MI5 is to play the Mau Mau," commented the head of the Overseas Division when MI5 officers were sent to Kenya in 1952.
The Service did not advertise openly for recruits before 1997: until then, recruitment was based on personal recommendation. This was a narrow social group, many of whom had served in India or elsewhere in the Empire.
Male officers listed their recreations as cricket and hunting, while women were graduates of elite schools and universities. Women have always played an important role in MI5 and two recent Director Generals have been female – Stella Rimington, one of the first women agent-runners, and Eliza Manningham-Buller.
Right up to the mid-1970s, the post-war Service refused to recruit Jews on the grounds that a dual loyalty to both Britain and Israel might create a conflict of interest. This was "inexcusable", Andrew rightly observes. So too was the attitude to black people of Guy Liddell, Deputy Director General. "It was true," he told the Joint Intelligence Committee in 1949, "that niggers coming here often went to the C[ommunist] P[arty]." There was no doubt in his mind that "West African natives are wholly unfitted for self-rule."
Shockingly, the Service carried out secret surveillance of the colonial delegations which came to London to discuss terms for independence in the 1950s and 1960s. Andrew gives a disturbing account of the stealthy gathering of intelligence on the delegates attending conferences which negotiated the independence of Cyprus and Kenya. The Home Secretary, Rab Butler, cynically condoned these operations on the grounds that "obviously the product was of great importance and of great value to the government negotiators".
In most of the Empire, claims Andrew, MI5 contributed to a smooth transfer of power through the work of its liaison officers. But Guyana, where Churchill wanted to "break the Communist teeth", was a shameful exception. Here, MI5 supported British and American covert action to oust the democratically-elected Cheddi Jagan from power. Andrew claims that the Service was not "directly" involved and that the dominant intelligence agency in the years leading up to independence in 1966 was the CIA. But neither point exculpates MI5 or, more pertinently, the British government.
The Service has had some remarkable achievements, notably the Double-Cross System of the Second World War, which fed disinformation to the Germans. For the most part, however, it is difficult to measure MI5's success, since it can only be judged by things which do not happen – like the prevention of sabotage.
But it seems astonishing that it was not until 1951, as the result of the decrypt of a KGB telegram, that any of the Cambridge Five – all MI5 or MI6 employees, recruited at Cambridge in the 1930s to become spies for the Soviet Union – were identified. The decrypt took the Service completely by surprise and began the most drawn-out investigation in its history, taking over 30 years to complete.
The thousand pages of this book are brimming with some wonderful details. But many could be pruned – like the fact that the first Director's garden contained "400 rose trees and a grass tennis court". This would make room, perhaps, for a fuller account of the human factor in spying.
What was the intellectual and psychological motivation of the staff of MI5? – not only of the spies, agent-runners, and codebreakers, but those who steamed open envelopes and eavesdropped on telephone conversations. How did they feel about deceit?
The Defence of the Realm is a valuable and important contribution to our understanding of the 20th century. But an official history can only do so much, especially of an organisation that is inherently secret. In this hazy world of smoke, mirrors and lies – where actual conspiracies are barely distinguishable from conspiracy theories – we also need the scrutiny of genuinely independent investigators, such as Robin Ramsay, the maverick editor of the journal Lobster, and of unofficial historians. It will be interesting to compare The Defence of the Realm with the authorised history of MI6, which is set to follow next year.
Susan Williams is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. Her latest book is 'Colour Bar' (Penguin)
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-defence-of-the-realm-by-christopher-andrew-1803266.html
CIA's Eye on South Asia
Pakistanis blame 'foreign powers' for deadly Peshawar blast
Calcutta News.Net
Saturday 7th November, 2009 (ANI)
Washington, Nov.7 : While the Pakistan government has blamed the banned terror outfits such as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda for the devastating car bomb blast in Peshawar's Meena Bazaar, in which over 100 people were killed, many Pakistanis believe it was countries like the US, India and Israel which were the real enemies of the state and not the Islamist extremist organisations.
Pakistani religious parties such as the Jamaat-e-Islami is influencing people to believe that such attacks were the handiwork of 'foreign powers' and are fanning hostility in people's heart against these countries, instead of working together with people to thwart the real challenge posed by the extremists.
"The more egregious the attack, the stronger seems the tendency to deny a domestic cause and blame other, more remote culprits. Some religious and political groups are encouraging such responses, eager to whip up xenophobic sentiment for their own ends," a report in The Washington Post said.
During a recent 'peace march' organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami to condemn the Peshawar blast, which mostly killed women and children, people were seen shouting slogans against the US, CIA and the Pentagon, but strangely enough there was no mention of terror outfits such as the Taliban or Al-Qaeda.
"Muslims! Muslims! We are here to protest against those wrongdoers who work for India, Israel and the United States," shouted a rally organizer through a bullhorn.
"We protest against American interference and against our government, which is handing over Pakistan to the foreigners and the unbelievers," he added further.
People, who lost their near and dear ones in one of the biggest blasts Peshawar in the recent history, also rejected claims regarding the Taliban's involvement in the incident.
"I am certain that the Taliban would never do this terrible thing. It must be the foreigners, who want to give a bad name to Islam," the newspaper quoted Shah Zamin, who lost his brother in the brutal attack, as saying.
Amid all the denials there was ample evidence that the attackers had an Islamic fundamentalist agenda of keeping women in seclusion, the report said.
Shopkeepers in the Meena Bazaar area, who witnessed the massacre, said unsigned posters had appeared in the bazaar shortly before the bombing, warning them not to sell cosmetics or display female mannequins.
http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/563009
'Lashkar is a jihadi Frankenstein today'
November 06, 2009 21:31 IST
Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Tayiba's [ Images ] recent attempt to recruit an American national to carry out terrorist attacks against targets in India, including individuals and institutions, is yet another tangible manifestation of its global reach, now extending even into America, intelligence sources have said.
These sources told rediff.com that while the linkage between LeT and Al Qaeda [ Images ] was well known for some years now, the Lashkar had now metamorphosed into an integral operational arm of the Al Qaeda with the Pakistan intelligence service ISI-trained Ilyas Kashmiri being the latter's key operatives.
Last month, the Chicago Federal Bureau of Investigation's Joint Terrorism [ Images ] Task Force arrested a man identified as David Coleman Headley, 49, a US citizen who changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2008, at O'Hare International Airport before boarding a flight to Philadelphia intending to travel to Pakistan.
He was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts involving murder and maiming outside the United States and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to that overseas terrorism conspiracy.
Also arrested was Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, a Pakistani national and citizen of Canada [ Images ] who like Headley, resides in Chicago.
Rana, the owner of several businesses, was apprehended at his home by federal agents and charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorism conspiracy that involved Headley and at least three other specific individuals in Pakistan.
As part of the conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism, Rana, according to the FBI, allegedly helped arrange Headley's travels overseas and conceal their true nature and purpose to survey potential terror targets overseas, and discussed potential targets for attack with Headley.
The FBI affidavit said that Headley allegedly reported and attempted to report on his overseas surveillance to other conspirators, including Ilyas Kashmir [ Images ]i, which the US agency identified as the operational chief of the Azad Kashmir (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) section of Pakistan-based terror outfit Harakat-ul Jihad Islami.
The sources said that LeT, conceived, armed and trained by the ISI to launch attacks in Kashmir against Indian military forces and civilians, had now become a "jihadi Frankenstein" beyond the control of ISI, and had now graduated to much broader attacks, including within India, and were now operating under the guidance of Al Qaeda.
Although there were some rogue elements from ISI and the Pakistani military involved with it, the latter no longer held the reins of the LeT and couldn't rein it in or unleash it as in the past.
The FBI's affidavit had disclosed that Headley was part of a conspiracy to bomb India's National Defence College in New Delhi [ Images ], as well as two prominent boarding schools --Doon School in Dehra Dun and Woodstock in Mussoorie.
It also said that Headley, Rana and Aman Rashid (Pakistan's consul general in Chicago), who would interact regularly with Rana, all hailed from the same school in Pakistan.
Earlier, Bruce Riedel, an erstwhile CIA official, had told rediff.com, "Since 9/11, several key Al Qaeda operatives arrested in Pakistan have been found in safe houses run by the LeT."
In fact the first major Al Qaeda lieutenant caught after 9/11, was apprehended in an LeT safe house in Faisalabad, he added.
Intelligence sources also continued to point to how Gary Schroen, who served as CIA station chief in Pakistan and led the first CIA team into Afghanistan after 9/11, had consistently pointed to the Al Qaeda-LeT connection, and spoken of how in the aftermath of 9/11, whenever a raid was conducted in Pakistan against Al Qaeda, the outfit's members were found being hosted by militant Pakistanis, primarily from the LeT.
They spoke of the LeT, however, at that time under the control of the ISI, even though the had Al Qaeda connections but that over a period of time the ISI reins on the LeT dissipated and it was as an Al Qaeda operational arm that it began to outreach globally and begin active recruitment outside of Pakistan.
In an affidavit filed on November 3, the FBI in a motion for detention pending trial of Rana, said Rana and Headley 'actively discussed the efforts to communicate with Kashmiri'.
The FBI noted how Rana and Headley had discussed the need to get Headley's 'reports' and 'notes' to Kahsmiri.
Riedel, in talking about Kashmiri said his life story 'helps us address one of the big questions in the current debate -- the nature of the economy'.
"He is a Kashmiri, obviously born in Pakistan Kashmir. He joined the struggle against India in Kashmir in 1994, where he began by taking American, British and Israeli hostages, some of which were killed."
Riedel said Kashmiri "went on to have a spectacular career in supporting the struggle against the Indian Army [ Images ] in Kashmir".
Pakistani Army's Special Security Forces -- the equivalent of the American Green Berets -- trained him. He was captured by the Indians but escaped.
"Then he was toasted by the Pakistani Army and the Pakistani intelligence services as a hero," but in 2005, Riedel said, "he joined the Al Qaeda. He became a convert to the global Islamic Jihad, and Al Qaeda sent him to Afghanistan, where he was critical in teaching the Taliban [ Images ] the tactics of small-unit warfare, ambushes and patrols, which they have been successful in using in the last several years."
Kashmiri, who was now focused on conspiring attacks on India, was also simultaneously active in Pakistan.
Riedel said that it was Kashmiri who was "responsible for the murder of a former commander in the Special Security Group in 2008, and he has plotted attacks on Chief of Army Staff (General Ashfaq) Kayani. He's number two on the Pakistan's most wanted list today and he is almost certainly involved in the attacks that are going on in Pakistan today."
But he said, "My point here is that he is a classic demonstration of how the terrorists refuse to stay in lane. We want to keep them in little boxes, but they don't want to stay in their boxes. They interact with each other. It's the syndicate of terrorism that we are facing in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is so difficult to deal with."
Aziz Haniffa in Washington, DC
http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/nov/06/lashkar-is-a-jihadi-frankenstein-today.htm
FBI foils LeT plan of major terror attack in India
October 27, 2009 23:24 IST
Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Tayiba [ Images ] was planning to use an American national to carry out a major terrorist attack in India, US investigating authorities said on Tuesday. The man, identified as David Coleman Headley, was arrested in early October by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Joint Terrorism [ Images ] Task Force at O'Hare International Airport before boarding a flight to Philadelphia, intending to travel on to Pakistan.
Forty-nine-year-old Headley, along with a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, have been arrested on charges of plotting a terror attack against the facilities and employees of a Danish newspaper, which had published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005, federal law enforcement officials announced on Tuesday.
The Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, also known as Tahawar Rana, was also a resident of Chicago and was arrested by the FBI on October 18.
Rana is the owner of several businesses, including First World Immigration Services, which has offices on Devon Avenue in Chicago, as well as in New York and Toronto. According to the FBI affidavit filed in a Chicago court, Headley was in close contact with Ilyas Kashmiri and several unidentified leaders of the LeT.
Kashmir [ Images ]i is the operational chief of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir section of Harakat-ul Jihad Islami, a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation with links to the Al Qaeda [ Images ].
Kashmiri, who is presently believed to be in Pakistan's restive Waziristan tribal region, issued a statement this month that he was alive and working with the Al Qaeda.
The identities of other LeT leaders, who are associated with Kashmiri, have not been revealed and are mentioned as "LeT member A" and "LeT member B" in the affidavit. "In July and August 2009, Headley exchanged a series of e-mails with LeT Member A, including an exchange in which Headley asked if the Denmark project was on hold, and whether a visit to India that LeT Member A had asked him to undertake was for the purpose of surveying targets for a new terrorist attack," the FBI said in its affidavit. "These e-mails reflect that LeT Member A was placing a higher priority on using Headley to assist in planning a new attack in India than on completing the planned attack in Denmark," it said.
After this time, Headley and LeT Member A allegedly continued focusing on the plan with Kashmiri to attack the newspaper, rather than working with LeT, the complaint alleges.
In January 2009, Headley travelled to Copenhagen, Denmark, and Rana had allegedly arranged parts of his travel. In late July 2009, Headley travelled again to Copenhagen and to other locations in Europe, and Rana again arranged portions of his travel.
November 4, 2009
CIA Clash: The Left Assaults Langley--Again
by Peter Brookes
You would think with hot wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and on Terror, the Left would rule out declaring war on the Central Intelligence Agency, too, one of this country's key intelligence collection and analysis organizations.
But, in fact, it has not.
The Left--led by the Obama White House and congressional Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi--has gone to general quarters with the shadowy agency, whose roots stretch back to the heroism of World War II's Office of Strategic Services.
This onslaught comes despite its negative impact on CIA morale, the agency's leadership and intelligence operations that bolster our national security, including senior-level decision-making and our brave war-fighters in the field.
This is not the first time the Left has gone to battle stations with the CIA, leading to disastrous consequences for our intelligence capabilities, especially human intelligence (HUMINT), not to mention our national interests.
But perhaps no days were darker than the 1970s.
Carter Cuts
Following an inquisition into CIA activities by the Democrat-led, congressional Church Commission (1975-1976), an effort that would have made Torquemada smile and the Soviet KGB titter, presidential candidate Jimmy Carter put Langley squarely in his sights.
Like President Herbert Hoover's Secretary of State Henry Stimson, who said gentlemen do not read others' mail, candidate Carter expressed concerns about the CIA's cloak-and-dagger past, especially covert action.
Once in office, Carter got busy. Working with his Annapolis classmate and new CIA chief, Adm. Stansfield Turner, he took a knife to the agency's HUMINT (or operations) directorate, its core competency--and the real reason the organization existed.
Dubbed the "Halloween Massacre," Turner gutted some 20 percent of the CIA's clandestine service (reportedly some 800 operatives), preferring instead to focus on high-tech intelligence collection such as satellites.
While high-tech is great, sometimes low-tech is what it takes.
For instance, while an imagery (photo) satellite can tell you a high-level meeting is taking place at a dacha in the Moscow countryside by the Soviet "luxury" Zil limousines parked on the compound, it will not tell you everything. Sure, Soviet leaders are huddling, but you will not know from those pictures what was said over dinner or endless shots of vodka. For that you need a spy--either to be there, get it second-hand from an asset or arrange the placement of a listening device.
But lacking human assets to steal state secrets, Carter and Turner almost assured Washington would be blindsided by international events that might otherwise have been foreseen. And that is exactly what happened.
Perhaps, most notably, was the 1979 Iranian revolution. The upheaval led not only to the overthrow of the pro-American Shah, replacing him with today's radical Islamic regime, but to the holding more than 50 Americans from the U.S. embassy hostage for 444 days.
Carter's cuts also came home to roost when the intelligence community was largely caught unawares by the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan the same year, potentially threatening the U.S. position in the Middle East and energy supplies.
Among some now-retired CIA operatives from the era, Carter and Turner evoke the same response as Jane Fonda does with some Vietnam vets, especially former POWs. Their sentiments certainly are not printable here.
Following a bolstering of agency HUMINT capabilities during the Reagan years for opposing the Soviets around the world, especially Afghanistan, the agency suffered cutbacks--again--under the next Democratic administration to take office.
ClintonComplacency
Believing we had earned a peace dividend with the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Clinton administration began redirecting and slimming U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA.
Beginning in 1993, looking to direct funding toward domestic programs such as universal health care, the Clinton White House cut the CIA's clandestine work force while closing overseas embassies, stations and bases.
According to the 9/11 Commission, which looked at intelligence shortcomings in the run-up to the horrific attack in its study, to meet emergency contingencies, CIA officers were shifted--temporarily--from one hot spot to another to fill shortages. These stop-gap measures did fill manpower holes, but not always with officers qualified in the language or with regional expertise.
Due to the complexity of the work, it usually takes five or more years of spy training, language and regional study, and street experience to qualify a newly recruited CIA operations officer for field work. The low-point came in 1995, when only 25 new case officers joined the spy service, ensuring continued shortages of qualified intelligence officers.
Because of these cuts, U.S. HUMINT also began to rely heavily on friendly (and previously unfriendly) intelligence services, including the former Soviet KGB and GRU (Russian military intelligence).
While this, in some cases, improved counter-intelligence, leading to the arrest of some Americans spying against their own country, it also left us reliant on the judgment of other governments for some foreign intelligence.
This is a risky proposition.
Intelligence officials will tell you there is really no such thing as a "friendly" intelligence service. No one tells you all of his secrets; some of it might even be purposefully misleading. It becomes your job to figure out what is fact and what is fiction.
In addition, smacking of the Carter-era human rights national security focus, the Clinton team injected a "holier-than-thou" attitude into the world's second-oldest profession. It called for a stable cleaning of any assets with a shady present or past in a move now referred to as the "Deutch Doctrine" after the then-Director of Central Intelligence, John Deutch.
Of course, this increased the difficulty of getting "privileged information" since a lot of spies were cut loose, making analysis more difficult. Agency officers began to wonder if they could actually recruit Mother Theresa-types to spy for the United States against their countries?
Believing a new dawn had broken, the White House also broadened the definition of national security to include environmental and economic issues, diverting already scarce resources from critical--and often on-the-boil--subject matters.
The intelligence community, including the CIA, was dinged for some earth-shaking events during the Clinton years such failing to predict the timing of India and Pakistan's nuclear breakout and the advanced stage of North Korea's long-range ballistic missile capabilities.
On the terror front, the U.S. missed the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed nearly 20 American servicemen, the al Qaeda bombing of the American embassies in East Africa and the USS Cole attack in Yemen, which cost the lives of almost 20 U.S. sailors.
Of course, worst of all, many judged that a shortage of CIA (and FBI) HUMINT capabilities and resources was central to events that led to the horrors of 9/11, the worst attack on the American homeland since the strike on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Despite this, the Left still has the CIA in its crosshairs.
Left's Latest Lunges
The Left's newest assault on Langley came this year after Barack Obama won the White House. But while Obama expressed concerns about the CIA during the 2008 campaign, the first salvo actually came from Congress, not 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
It started in May, with onedoozy of a case of "he said, she said." Speaker Pelosi and White House-appointed CIA Director Leon Panetta began a public tiff about "who told whom what when" regarding the interrogation of al Qaeda terrorists.
Pelosi claimed the CIA misled Congress about the use of coercive techniques (e.g., water-boarding) on senior al Qaeda operatives when it briefed the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence back in the War on Terror's early years.
The CIA--and a host of others--claimed that it was not so and that then-not-yet-Speaker Pelosi (and Congress) were advised of the use of enhanced interrogation techniques against top al Qaeda types as far back as 2002.
Defending the agency, Panetta said CIA briefers dealt with lawmakers honestly but ultimately it would be up to members of Congress to make their own judgments about what transpired at the classified briefings.
President Obama, the ostensible leader of the Democratic Party and a main consumer of CIA intelligence as commander in chief, said nothing about the matter, but he surely could not be pleased about the public dissension within his senior political ranks.
It gets worse. The next salvo came over the CIA's transom a few months later--this time from the Obama Justice Department.
In August, the Obama administration released a previously classified 2004 CIA Inspector General (IG) report on the interrogation activities of nearly a dozen employees and contractors for the period 2002-2003.
The report's release coincided with the decision of Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to look into possible misdeeds in the CIA's questioning of high-value terrorists such as 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
While Obama claimed he was unaware of the decision of his personal friend and attorney general, many believe that a decision of this magnitude and potential political controversy could not have been made without the Oval Office knowing. Others point out the president is the country's chief law enforcement official and should have known of such a decision.
But strangely enough, there is no new information in the IG's report to justify a re-look. In fact, the Bush Justice Department already prosecuted a contractor based on the IG account for the death of a prisoner in Afghanistan.
Moreover, the CIA's IG report was delivered to Congress in 2004, but Capitol Hill took no action on it. The only real change was the 2008 election, which left Democrats in power at both ends of Pennsylvania Ave.
Indeed, Director Panetta, the former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, said the DOJ's career prosecutors worked painstakingly for years to decide on whether to prosecute - and those employees that were not prosecuted often faced CIA disciplinary action.
But, perhaps, most bizarre of all regarding this Obama administration effort to re-open the past is that the coercive interrogation techniques, which are now being re-examined, worked.
In fact, the CIA IG report states: "[T]heir interrogation has provided intelligence that has enabled the identification and apprehension of other terrorists, warned of terrorist plots planned for the United States and around the world," concluding, "[T]here is no doubt that the Program has been effective."
Supporting that assertion, the Obama administration did release a few other previously classified CIA memos, showing the interrogation of some high-value terrorists yielded information that disrupted post-9/11 attacks.
Indeed, the heavily redacted 2004-2005 memos call the interrogations a "crucial pillar of U.S. counterterrorism efforts," helping foil 9/11-style attacks planned for Los Angeles' Library Tower and London's Heathrow Airport.
In another blow to the agency's ego, the White House decided to take the lead for the interrogation of high-value detainees away from the CIA and place it under FBI, which would report directly to the White House's National Security Council.
This move is not only a slap at the CIA, but it is another roundhouse to confidence in Panetta's leadership. (Some believe Panetta will not be around much longer, giving the already-rattled CIA its sixth leader since 9/11.)
The other concern is that by putting this task under the FBI, the Obama administration is reverting to the law enforcement mentality toward terrorism that existed during Clinton's term, which some experts and analysts believe contributed to 9/11.
Unfortunately, the attacks on the CIA will not be limited to just some epithets hurled from Capitol Hill, the possible prosecution of some CIA officers for transgressions committed six or seven years ago or the shifting of responsibilities.
Clandestine Consequences
The most troubling part of these events is the impact these Left-hooks to the CIA's jaw will have on the organization and its ability and, indeed, willingness to carry out its mission without questions.
Pelosi's charges of lying will certainly chill morale at the agency. Having an entire group's integrity publicly questioned cannot do anything but diminish an organization's espirit de corps and confidence. (There is also a rich irony in being called mendacious by the political class, well known for dissembling, spinning and parsing.)
The DOJ's investigation will not help boost the mood at the agency, either, especially after Obama had made it clear in a speech at CIA earlier this year that, while he had concerns about the past, it was time for the agency to look to the future. That sentiment was greeted positively by CIA employees, many of whom have been rattled by campaign rhetoric and worried about the possibility of a Carter-era witch hunt by the Obama administration.
Of course, after executing a one-eighty with the Justice Department decision, they have to be asking themselves: What will the next policy flip-flop be?
Even worse, it was reported in September that Holder never read the key memos on the cases against the CIA officers done by Bush's Justice Department before making the decision to re-open the investigation.
It has gotten so out of hand that in mid-September, seven former CIA directors called on Obama to end the investigation, citing the potential damage to the organization and its operations. Obama responded he would not interfere in Holder's probes.
The CIA director reportedly told his employees to ignore the political white noise swirling around them and to focus on the job at hand--and rightfully so. But it will be hard for them to do that, considering the controversy swirling about them.
All of this is also a major distraction to the CIA's embattled director, who seems to be drowning in a sea of inquiries pouring into his seventh-floor Langley office from his White House and the Democratic Congress. It would seem the director has more important things to look after, such as the Iraq and Afghan wars, catching Osama bin Laden, dealing with rising Russia and China, and Iranian and North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs, to name a few.
Also troubling is that the re-opening of the investigation into interrogations will leave officers in the field wondering whether they should be more concerned about getting the terrorists--or getting lawyers.
It may also make them risk averse if they feel that their well-intentioned efforts in support of our national security will, instead of getting them the praise of a grateful nation, get them a subpoena. Some are buying liability insurance.
Even worse, insiders say experienced officers are heading for the doors, worried about being hauled before a congressional committee or frog-marched before a grand jury. Some gray hair around the temples is helpful--especially when you are at war.
And what about young people: Will they still want to serve their country in the CIA?
Additionally, the public release of information on interrogations will also allow al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other terrorists to use it for propaganda purposes, allowing them to recruit new members and raise funds for training and operations.
It will also give terrorists insights into our intelligence sources and methods, potentially allowing them to resist future interrogations, which may keep us from preventing terrorist attacks and winning on the battlefield.
And lastly, the discretionary publication of national security information by the Obama administration, though heavily redacted, will also give intelligence allies and sources who spy for the United States serious pause: Why share secrets with the Americans if it is going to end up on the front page of a newspaper and all over the Internet? It could lead to embarrassment for a government or, worse yet, a swing in the gallows for an undercover asset.
Leashing the Left
Unfortunately, the Left has been yanking the chain of the national-security establishment pretty hard lately, from the on-again-off-again release of detainee-abuse photos to the publication of interrogation memos to calls for a "truth commission" from some in Congress.
This is not helpful--or right.
These events have a distasteful political dimension, too. It helps Obama distract from the disastrous health care debate, skyrocketing deficit predictions and concerns over his energy and environment agenda, among others.
It also demonizes the George W. Bush administration--always a popular pastime for the Left--providing the White House with an opportunity to unify its base, which still has not gotten its pound of Bush's flesh and is increasingly unhappy with its own White House.
Brave Americans earn our national security one tough day at a time. We cannot allow some on the Left to kick around their efforts like a political football, distracting them from the important tasks at hand.
If we do, there is sure to be a price paid--in American lives.
In the end, it is not by chance that we have not been attacked in more than eight years. Former Vice President Dick Cheney said it best, pointing out that, instead of criticizing the agency, we owe the CIA a debt of gratitude for helping keep us safe.
It is also important to note: Intelligence collection and analysis is tough enough under the best circumstances - without anyone making it harder; it is also our first line of defense.
These are sentiments that those on the Left should really consider before it goes any further--or does any more damage--to the critical work the CIA and others are doing on behalf of our national security.
Peter Brookes is a Heritage Foundation senior fellow and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense.
First Appeared in Townhall Magazine
http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed110409c.cfm
Dalai Lama: Illusion vs. reality
Published on October 13, 2009 by Matthew Cole
One of the favorite icons of the hippie left was recently given a human rights award by Nancy Pelosi on behalf of the Lantos Foundation. I am referring to Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. He has certainly acquired a reputation for being an outspoken advocate of human rights and democracy. Canada granted him honorary citizenship. He has received numerous human rights awards and honorary doctorates. He is even a distinguished professor at Emory University. Is his noble reputation really deserved? Behind the charming illusion cast by his goofy smile is a huge disparity between his actual human rights record and the image presented to the world.
The "Free Tibet" crowd that recently made an appearance at the G-20 protests would have us believe that Tibet was a peaceful idyllic place that is currently being oppressed by China. This image is more myth than reality. Contrary to their spiritualist image, the monks who ran Tibet were very focused on material things. They engaged in trade, carried weapons that they used to fight rival Tibetan monasteries and even ran harems.
The vast majority of Tibetans were serfs or slaves. The serfs were taxed excessively, with the end result being many who couldn't pay their taxes were forced into slavery. There was no pretense of equal rights. The serfs and slaves lived under a different law than the aristocratic and monastic elite who ran Tibet. Body mutilation of serfs and slaves was common. The Tibetan government had a particular affinity for gouging out their eyes. The parasitic elite lived in luxury by enslaving the rest of the population. At the head of this oppressive theocracy was the Dalai Lama.
In 1951, China assumed control over Tibet by forcing the Dalai Lama to sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, which granted Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, but allowed Tibet to retain enough autonomy so that the Dalai Lama would still be the head of this feudal theocracy.
In 1956, the Chinese government levied taxes on trade in Tibet. The Dalai Lama saw this as a threat to his power and thus began the CIA-backed Tibetan uprising. Using this emergency as an excuse for personal gain, the Dalai Lama collected 120 tons of gold and jewels to build a new throne for himself, in order to dispel "bad omens." The Dalai Lama knows better than anyone that he is no more holy than the common serf, but that didn't stop him from using his theocratic title to exploit his people in a way that rivals even the most corrupt leaders in Africa.
In 1959, he fled to India, where he established the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in the Tibetan enclave of Dharamsala. Only after his exile to India did words like "democracy" or "human rights" enter his vocabulary. Ironically, the Chinese takeover was actually an improvement for the barbaric human rights situation of Tibet.
Since 1987, he has demanded political autonomy for Tibet. He also claims to be the divinely ordained autocratic ruler. That is very convenient for him. Despite his public proclamations of nonviolence and calls for a nuke-free world, he was quick to support India's nuclear weapons testing.
His statements on religious tolerance are similarly insincere, as demonstrated by his attempts to ban worship of Dorge Shugden by Tibetan Buddhists. The worship of this once venerated deity was banned on the whim of the Dalai Lama, who denounced these devotees as "murderers and beaters" and Chinese agents. Those who defied this edict have been ostracized from Tibetan enclaves, assaulted and even killed.
The Dalai Lama claims to be half-Marxist and half-Buddhist in his philosophy. Of course, true Marxism is nothing like the feudal of pre-1959 Tibet, but I consider both systems to be forms of slavery. The concept of individual autonomy is nowhere to be found in his philosophy. Like the medieval Catholic Church, the Dalai Lama is not above selling "indulgences" to donors like Steven Seagal. When Shoko Asahara, leader of the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist organization that launched a sarin gas attack in a Japanese subway, donated 45 million rupees to the Dalai Lama, he was granted a private audience.
Of course, the Dalai Lama doesn't speak for all Tibetans. There are many who would like Chinese oppression of Tibet to end, but don't want a revival of the old Tibetan theocracy. It's time we stopped idolizing hypocritical opportunists.
http://ksusentinel.com/op-ed/dalai-lama-illusion-vs-reality/
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