Our wonderful “intelligence” agencies
Published by MadMan August 26th, 2003 in IndiaIt’s bad enough that so many innocent people get killed in bomb blasts. But it’s infuriating to read news like this:
Intelligence agencies warn of more attacks
The Central government has been warned of the existence of more independent modules of terrorists who could strike terror in Mumbai.
The commercial capital could witness more terrorist acts ‘after a lull’, an intelligence officer told rediff.com.
Gee, Mr. Intelligence Officer, I suppose you chanced upon this bit of “intelligence” only yesterday, right? Suddenly you have all the information about terrorist cells. Pity it’s coming a couple of days too late. What the fuck were you buggers doing till now - gathering “intelligence”?
And why is it that the only intelligence information that you can come up with is something that any one of us could have figured out? Have you been taking lessons from Bejan Daruwalla?
19 Responses to “Our wonderful “intelligence” agencies”
- 1 Trackback on Aug 26th, 2003 at 9:34 pm
- 2 Trackback on Aug 27th, 2003 at 12:49 pm
- 3 Trackback on Sep 3rd, 2003 at 1:39 am
If only the intelligence business were that simple. If the CIA, the NSA and all the US intelligence agencies with their multi-billion dollar budgets and spy satellites and listening devices couldn’t stop Sept 11 where 10 middle-eastern men who didn’t speak English, didn’t have valid id could not be found or stopped, don’t you think that it is virtually impossible in a country like India where they can blend in with the population, speak the language and are aided and abetted by our own citizens.
This is in response to the previous comment…
Sept. 11 involved only humans. It is highly difficult for even the best and highly efficient intelligence agencies to keep tabs on people coming into the country.
Mumbai blasts involved humans and explosives. Now, there are two ways of procuring explosives. Either buy it locally from the underworld or other local sources. Or smuggle it into the country via sea (coz thats the easiest). Now in both these cases, a well-maintained informer-network will give the police at least some hints of such activities. After all, the terrorists have to depend on external (local) support in such cases. This is where “intelligence” comes into the picture. And this is exactly what has been found lacking.
The second point is that with so many blasts in Mumbai in the recent months, the intelligence agencies were supposedly in a state of “high alert”. Now, when the terrorists can get away with bomb blasts just a fortnight after the last one, I think its a collossal failure of the intelligence machinery. Contrast this with Sept. 11… where the events came out of the big blue!
In response to the comment above:
I wonder why then a country like Israel which has (widely acknowledged by the entire world) one of the best intelligence agencies in the world - The Mossad - is plagued by bomb blasts every few days. Security in Israel is one of the tightest in the world, their intelligence network is one of the best in the world (in fact other intelligence agencies frequently buy information from the Mossad)and is just a few steps removed from a police state (especially if you are Palestenian). But there are bomb blasts every few days. Is that Mossads fault? In fact even when they go to extremes - shelling villages, bulldozing suspected hideouts and state sponsored assassinations, they can barely make a dent in the number of bomb blasts.
In fact Mossad’s intelligence is so good that one of their agents came close to being appointed Defense Minister of Syria but with all that brilliant human (humint) and technological intelligence the bomb blasts continue unabated. Can you explain that?
MadMan’s major grouse seems to be the inane platitudes the intelligence agencies spew out. If they are unable to tell us more than what an ordinary citizen can tell, then they might as well keep shut.
I would tend to agree with Ck to the extent that it’s hard for intelligence agencies in India to gather information about purchases of explosives etc,. specially when the type of explosives used are not so high-tech, but can be assembled using stuff you get at a local hardware store.
But yes, Indian Intelligence agencies are nowhere as savvy and efficient as the CIA/FBI. But I don’t underestimate them either, as there have been numerous cases where they have tracked down criminals and culprits for large-scale attacks in a haystack like India.
Okay… to all you people who think it’s wrong to blame the intelligence agencies for Monday’s blasts, read this.
Would you blame the intelligence agencies or the bureacracy or the government for the blasts?
I think by and far in India, a career in the police services is not something most people look forward to.
‘Cos it pays peanuts. And it’s dangerous to boot. So where’s the motivation in it for the officers?
Btw I’m not condoning the lapse - only trying to guess if the system is indeed so inefficient that future incidents like these will be met with the same excuses.
Exactly what Yazad said.
Look, no intelligence agency is perfect, but please don’t give us meaningless bullshit that other strikes could be likely blah blah blah. It doesn’t take an Einstein to say stuff like that.
Take news like this:
Alert in Delhi, Gujarat
High alert in Nashik
What the hell does “high alert” mean? Every time something like this happens, our forces go on “high alert”. What results? Nothing really. But it sure sounds good, doesn’t it?
Jivha, The intelligence agencies are part of the bureaucracy; the bureaucracy is a part of the government. They are indistinguishable parts of one whole.
The rest of your comment I agree with.
Madman, is your criticism based on the headline or the report itself? I thought that report was fairly informative. The point it made was that Intelligence agencies have discovered a new pattern to terrorist attacks, different from ‘93. Surely you didn’t believe Intelligence agencies go around making statements like “There are going to be more attacks, so watch out.”
Look if you have specific information, like “Terrorists are going to strike at the gateway of India on 25th August 2003″, you wouldn’t just warn about them. You’d go and stop them. But if a presswala thrusts a mike at you and asks you a question like “sir do you think there will be more such attacks?” What answer will you give?
“No I don’t think so.” - Not true and risky. If indeed there are more attacks, you’re screwed.
“I have no idea. I’m completely clueless”. Apart from being dangerous to your career, this answer will also be not true. You’ll invariably have *some* information, but too vague and perhaps not enough to give specific warnings.
So the only possible answer to give is one laden with generalities, cautioning people against more attacks, but asking them not to unduly panic.
I’m not saying that they are perfect, but intelligence agencies keep stopping terrorist attacks all the time. But a “Terrorist cell busted” is not as big a news as “bomb blast in bombay. 50 killed”.
But ultimately there is only so much even the best intelligence agency can do. You can’t spy on every citizen and you can’t ever seal your borders hermetically. The only way to ensure long term peace is to strike first.
You’re absolutely right, Ravikiran. As bloggers, I think we are too quick to tear headlines apart without sparing a moment for thought. Yazad, time for you to get a little more intelligence on your blog (as opposed to angry young boys) ;)
The rediff report had some important news on changes in the pattern of terrorist attacks. But that was not in the headline nor in the first two paras, but hidden in the second half of the piece.
The headline and the first two paras are most inane. That’s what’s been quoted and critiqued by Madman. A better headline would have been “Intelligence Detects New Pattern in Terrorist Attacks” and focus straight onto that topic cutting out the first two paras.
Ravi, intelligence people are rarely on the scene and when they are, they’re largely incognito. And perhaps the best response to these questions is a “no comment.” I’d ignore these comments if made by politicians or even by the police as it is their wont. Intelligence agencies are supposed to possess what political jokers do not, namely “intelligence.”
The headline and the first two paras are most inane.
Then we’re critisising Rediff, not Intelligence. Let’s be clear about that.
I refuse to respond to certain people, Yazad, no matter how much they try “critisising” (sic) me. You and I know what I what I was talking about. If the confusion persists, I might update the entry.
Bonjour!
Interesting thread. If you have time :
Mark
painting