IDSA Report on Intelligence Reforms in India Released

Holistic Modernisation of Indian Intelligence Set up a Prerequisite for Country’s Security

New Delhi: The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses’ (IDSA) report on Intelligence Reforms in India advocates a paradigm shift towards holistic modernisation of the current Indian intelligence setup, by bringing in radical changes in the existing intelligence culture. The full report, titled ‘A Case for Intelligence Reforms in India,’ is now available on the IDSA website, www.idsa.in.

The need for reforms in the country’s intelligence set up was felt in the backdrop of the Kargil War in 1999 and the more recent Mumbai terrorists attack in 2008. It is in the aftermath of these incidents, that the functioning of India's security and intelligence set-up and its ability to meet the new emerging challenges, was extensively discussed in various circles. The absence of broad-based exercise to reform the country’s intelligence apparatus made even the Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari speak about the need for the accountability of intelligence agencies and the necessity for them to function under some sort of legal cover.

The IDSA Task Force was thus set up to focus on the existing Intelligence set up in India, in the backdrop of the complex security challenges faced by the nation that have the potential to derail its economic and social progress.

The report looks at the problem in broader terms and studies the functioning of country's intelligence set-up; analyses the factors that impede good intelligence at various stages of collection, initial analysis, inter-agency cooperation and assessments and what can be done to improve assessments and human resources. It also examines the related issue of the necessity for the regular and periodic briefings of the political executive after they receive the intelligence input in a processed form.

The report goes on to make several key recommendations towards strengthening the Indian Intelligence System, enabling it to meet the myriad challenges the country faces in the new millennium.

The key recommendations made in the report are:

• The intelligence agencies in India must be provided a legal-framework for their existence and functioning
• Their functioning must be under Parliamentary oversight and scrutiny
• Extensive reforms must be carried out in the recruitment and training processes of their personnel, their pay structures and career progression to attract the best talent available in the country.
• Recruitment to these agencies should be broad-based so as experts from myriad fields, such as Science and Technology, IT, Communications etc could be brought, in rather than reserving these agencies exclusively for the Police Sector.
• The vexed issue of the relationship between the civilian intelligence agencies and the Armed Forces should be put on an even keel so that there is greater interaction between the two segments of Government apparatus.
• There should be a single authority exercising supervisory and other control over the intelligence agencies. He could be the National Security Advisor (NSA) in a modified role, Director of National Intelligence or even a minister for national Intelligence, answerable to the Parliament.

The report has been compiled by a Task Force, comprising Shri R. Banerji, Special Secretary (Retd.) in the Cabinet Secretariat, P. K. Upadhyay, (Consultant, IDSA), Harinder Singh (then Research Fellow, IDSA), with valuable input from former IDSA Director, late Shri K Subrahmanyam, former National Security Adviser, Shri Brajesh Mishra, former intelligence professionals - Shri G.C. Saxena, Shri A.K. Verma, Shri Ajit Doval and several others.