War on Terror: Intelligence agencies at war

3 Dec 2008, 0329 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: A no-holds barred "leak" war has broken out between intelligence agencies which has engulfed PMO as well with India's security bosses— scrambling for cover after the Mumbai attacks, engaging in a fierce blame game and settling departmental scores.

The issue at hand is whether the external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing generated specific inputs which were not acted on by Navy, Coast Guard and IB. The inter- agency sniping has placed National Security Advisor M K Narayanan in the line of fire for not taking the "tip offs" seriously enough.

With allegations flying thick and fast, Navy chief Sureesh Mehta on Tuesday took the extraordinary step of publicly stating that his force had received no "actionable" intelligence while admitting to a "system failure". "What is important is that we should have intelligence which is actionable and specific," he said.

The leaks were initially sourced to RAW which has been steadily generating bad news for factionalism and poor leadership. Its chief Ashok Chaturvedi has been criticised for globe- trotting at official expense and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks have put his agency under adverse scrutiny. The embellishment of the "attacks foretold" story is seen as a shrewd move to deflect the heat.

Even though RAW did flash a warning on November 19, it is pointed out that the agency which claims to have decent assets in Karachi with the city's Mohajir population, was not aware that the team of 10 terrorists had trained there for a full month before setting off.

The "intelligence ignored" story has generated political heat with defence minister A K Antony even offering to quit at Saturday's meeting of the CWC if the Navy was found to be at fault. It has also provided fodder to the NSA'sdetractors whose jurisdiction is envied by MEA and a section of PMO and who has annoyed many, most recently on the Batla House encounter when he argued against a judicial probe into the shootout.

Within days of Manmohan Singh's promise to overhaul India's anti- terror response, turf wars have become more heated with calculated leaks about RAW pointing to both a sea- borne attack and targeting of hotels in Mumbai.

Well- placed sources said that while an input was indeed generated, it was not as specific as is being claimed by some quarters. It was after the Mumbai attacks that some dots were now being joined and a larger picture was falling in place. It would be incorrect to say that an alert had been issued about a marine jihadi attack on hotels in November.

It is being pointed out that RAW did not link the September 18 warning about hotels to the November 19 signal on a LeT trawler with dangerous cargo heading for India. There was undoubtedly a lapse in intercepting the trawler and dingies carrying the Lashkar-e-Taiba team, but it was not as if the plan to spread mayhem and death was known before hand.

The November 19 intercept is also being evaluated in light of interrogation reports of the captured terrorist Ajmal who has indicated the LeT team could have left as late as November 23. Also two MV Kubers have now been indentified. While affixing responsibility, it was important to clarify how urgent RAW considered its input and whether an effort was made to alert top levels in government. Was the intercept and analysis placed before the joint intelligence committee?

On his part, Narayanan has spoken forthrightly over the jihadi threat and continues to enjoy the PM's confidence. Authoritive sources said the NSA was not under pressure to quit even as political circles debated whether his standing with the Congress leadership had been hit. But the point is also being made that he has concentrated on managing postings and short-term objectives while not addressing the systemic deficiencies of IB and RAW.

On being asked whether the NSA was being retained, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi provided a hint of what the party was thinking when he said on Tuesday that it was "unlikely" that a specific warning had been ignored.
Intelligence agencies at war

Comment: The Naval Forces and Coast Guard need to be given more executive powers to contain Smuggling and Terrorists activities in all the coastal regions East, West and South.