Security is essentially a combination of measures designed to protect the nation from the ‘covert’ offensives of an enemy. Security is not a one-time event as the threat scenario can change over a period of time — it is also in principle to be regarded as a ‘matter of degree’ always open to improvement. The spectrum of friends and enemies is not static and therefore an ongoing evaluation even of existing friendships is a requirement of security. Intelligence is the anchor of security- being the information that throws light on the hidden plans of the adversary. Intelligence is defined also as ‘information for action’ and it is easy to understand how security classically fails when there is a ‘lack of information, but why it also fails and this is not uncommon for the failure of ‘communication’ to the action taking authorities or for ‘failure of action’ itself. Intelligence is not easy to come by in these times of covert offensives in which terrorism was used as an instrument and logically therefore no piece of Intelligence howsoever small can be dismissed as ‘in actionable’ for it might as well prove to be the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
A major task of the Intelligence setup is to operationally develop the available Intelligence for reducing the ‘gap between information and action’ and trace the source, place, and time of the ‘threat’ for making its neutralization possible. The profession of Intelligence requires specially trained people who accepted anonymity by choice, had infinite persistence, and worked with a commitment to the ‘national cause’. Against the backdrop of this all, the challenge of handling the current threats to national security has become a formidable calling for maximum Intelligence coordination and integral responses. Apart from the operational skills, Intelligence also depended on a competent analysis of open-source information, and it was in this direction that data analytics and scanning of cyber communications emerged as the new Intelligence tasks of ever-growing importance. NATGRID is the central data bank that would yield information of both operational and strategic value and NIC is the network facilitating information sharing and action. What is new on the security front is the advantage social media had provided to the adversary to conduct clandestine operations for raising ‘sleeper cells’, raising ‘lone wolves’ for acts of terrorism, and spreading radicalization. Running a scan of social media has to be made comprehensive enough and suspect websites have to be examined in depth to pick up signals of hostile activity. The cases of terrorists killing two Hindus at Amravati and Udaipur to avenge the allegedly insulting remark about Prophet Mohammad made by now suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma during a TV program have brought out how Pakistan-linked WhatsApp groups were used in the run-up to these gruesome events. Intelligence both central and local has to identify all suspects for prompt Police action and legal pursuit.
A far more audacious form of terror activity directed from across the border has come into play and deterrence has to be created against it without losing time. Pakistan’s ISI is using both extremist Deobandi and Bareilvi streams of the Islamic spectrum as instruments in the proxy war against India the vulnerability of India to this mischievous intrusion from outside has to be fully assessed and measures both punitive and sociological evolved for maintaining internal security. Representative Muslim organizations must be persuaded to condemn the advocacy of Jehad for dealing with any Minority issues in democratic India that had a secular constitution. The Indian democratic State should give no quarters to political elements voicing ‘separatism’ and secession and – what is worse doing so on a note of violence. A new danger has arisen from a certain kind of civil society groups and ‘think tanks’ that devoted themselves for a political reason to building subversive narratives of majoritarianism, autocratic rule, and anti-minority disposition of the Modi regime and in concert with foreign lobbies and elements of the opposition even questioned.
