India faces threat from new forms of terrorism of the high-tech variety, an area where the country's top intelligence agency may not be measuring up.
WASHINGTON: India faces threat from new forms of terrorism of the high-tech variety, an area where the country's top intelligence agency may not be measuring up, a think tank has said.
Intelligence analysis agency Stratfor has said India would have to guard itself against new forms of terrorism of the high tech variety, an area where the Intelligence Bureau (IB) may not be measuring up.
"India has had problems with Islamist militant groups since its independence. For most of this time, the militants, whose goals are largely separatist in nature, have focused on India itself," Stratfor said in an analysis.
However, it said that 'over the past few years India's radical Islamist groups have begun to flirt with the concept of transnational jihadism as embraced by Al Qaeda.'
In the context of the failed bombing plot in London and Glasgow, the analysis agency said, 'while three of the suspects in the United Kingdom plot were Indians, this case does not signify that India has fallen into the jihadist pit, at least not yet.'
Going on to take a look at the structure and functioning of India's Intelligence Bureau (IB), it said, "Most senior intelligence officials were trained by the Soviets during the Cold War and/or have had British training. As a result, the IB exhibits efficiency and a certain level of sophistication."
Praising IB for its surveillance ability, Stratfor said, "It is among the world's five best intelligence services when it comes to conducting physical surveillance, bugging hotel rooms and carrying out black bag jobs."
Stratfor, however, said 'the IB has not been terribly successful at developing human assets inside the militant Islamist groups. Moreover, while its senior officers are talented, its large cadre of working-level officers is weak.'
"The bottom line is that sophisticated transnational jihadist operatives could operate in India because the IB simply does not have robust intelligence capabilities at the working level," Stratfor said in its intelligence brief.
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