Security Upgrade

Government sources told The Indian Express that responding to Chidambarams concept paper A New Architecture for Indias Security,Narayanan has suggested that while setting up of the NCTC was a good idea,MAC or State MAC,currently under the Intelligence Bureau,should be kept out of its ambit,and both the IB and Research and Analysis Wing Ramp;AW should only send their representatives to the NCTC.

The NSA,to whom Chidambaram had circulated his concept paper,has himself as the head of a panel appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to suggest changes in Indias response to terror.

The Home Minister,in his concept paper,had envisaged that the NCTC should have not only the capacity to analyse intelligence relating to terror but also be operationally equipped with the capacity to respond to the threat. By suggesting that the MAC should be subsumed by NCTC,the Home Minister was essentially indicating that the anti-terror apparatus of both the IB and Ramp;AW should be put under the Centre.

Under the laid-down procedure,MAC,which is headed by a Special Director IB,collects,collates and analyses intelligence from Ramp;AW and other technical agencies and then passes it on to the relevant state police or agencies for action through the joint task force on intelligence. The significant point is that both IB and Ramp;AW have their own operational wings that have the capacity to respond to an immediate terror threat. Simply put,the Intelligence Bureau through its subsidiaries in the states has men on the ground to respond to a terror threat.

It is understood that Narayanan and the apex intelligence agencies chiefs have the American model of NCTC in mind. Chidambaram,who has had first-hand experience of NCTC during his last US visit,knows that neither the CIA Director nor the FBI Director report to the Centre but are represented at the Centre through designated senior officials. The US NCTC head,a deputy secretary-level officer,reports to the Director,National Intelligence,who,in turn,reports to the US President. Similarly,the US NSA,FBI and CIA have their own laid down functions that intersect with the NCTC on the counter-terror objectives.

Sources said that the NSA does not want both the IB and Ramp;AW to be defanged by merging their anti-terror operational capacities with NCTC as there is a thin line separating terror from developing communal or political situations in the country. However,there is a consensus that the National Security Guard under the Home Ministry could be the strike tool of the NCTC.

There is also disquiet among the security agencies over NTRO,which handles technical intelligence,and JIC,which does long-term prognosis based on intelligence,coming under the NCTC as both organisations come under the National Security Council Secretariat NSCS and report to the NSA. While the first objective of the government is to set up the National Intelligence Grid,consensus is still being built on the NCTC before it is put up to the Cabinet for clearance.