National intelligence agencies should be urgently brought under independent monitoring, preferably by a committee of nominated elders from parliament
Need to bring better accountability in intelligence agencies stressed
NEW DELHI: National intelligence agencies should be urgently brought under independent monitoring, preferably by a committee of nominated elders from parliament, former as well as serving intelligence officers believe.
After DNA exposed on Monday how the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), the nation’s external intelligence agency, had sunk to embarrassing lows with open dogfights between senior officers and rampant misuse of agency funds by its chief Ashok Chaturvedi, among others, many serving and retired officers came forward on Tuesday to say they had conveyed the harsh reality to the government time and again through various channels, but in vain.
“Many of us have been repeatedly reminding those in the government of the need to bring in better accountability. But nothing seems to be moving,” a former chief of an intelligence agency said.
The government, for reasons best known to it, has failed to act on the appeals, letting Chaturvedi and his coterie run the agency as per their whims and fancies, even as IPS and RAS (Research and Analysis Service) officers openly fight it out.
DNA had on Monday highlighted the nepotism, corruption and misuse of secret funds in R&AW. We reported how Chaturvedi hired his own private premises as a “safe house” for the agency, how his son received the agency’s operational secret funds in Europe and how his personal secretary got all his four daughters appointed in the agency.
A serving officer told DNA he was surprised the government had yet not appointed a senior officer within the agency an independent auditor.
The proposal was to appoint an inspector general who could stem the rot set in R&AW in recent months and years, but the Centre seems to have abandoned whatever little efforts under way to improve the agency. These include the proposed appointment of an inspector general who would act as a vigilant eye within the organisation, reporting to the government even the misconduct of its chief.
Many officers blamed the recent suicide attempt by a woman director of the agency, Nisha Bhatia, outside the prime minister’s office a result of the deep rot in R&AW.
DNA queries also revealed how a suggestion being discussed at the highest levels to appoint a supervisory committee headed by NSA may not be a solution.
What R&AW needs is strong external supervision with internal vigilance, and the best solution seems to be the British system of supervision by a committee of parliamentary elders.
“It is high time the government moved to put in place parliamentary supervision for our intelligence agencies, and a better accountability system for their employees,” a former intelligence officer said.
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