India’s External Intelligence: Secrets of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)

Author

Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh

Description

RAW is India’s primary intelligence agency. It functions as the country’s top secret agency, similar to the CIA in the United States and MI-6 in the United Kingdom. External espionage is one of its responsibilities. RAW, unlike other countries’ intelligence agencies that are subjected to public and parliamentary scrutiny, has a veil of secrecy surrounding it.

The majority of the authors are from outside Pakistan, with the greatest number coming from Pakistan. The few Indian writers that have addressed RAW were outsiders who accumulated information from people who had worked in the agency. There is no inside account of RAW to be found.

The book is the first from a person who has worked in RAW at a senior level and was able to observe it up close. Because he was more concerned with signal intelligence than human intelligence missions, the vast majority of the material is devoted to the prior.

The book exposes a number of gaps in the country’s top intelligence agency’s functioning, the most notable of which being equipment procurement anomalies, lack of accountability, and our reliance on foreign sources, all of which pose a danger to national security.

Some of the hitherto untold stories recounted in the book are:

1. By changing technical criteria, it’s possible to get equipment from foreign producers for more than ten times the market rate.
2. How the security of the Prime Minister was almost compromised for a few pieces of silver.
3. The circumstances leading to the death of one of RAW’s brightest officers, Vipin Handa.
4. The stories of moles in the country’s top intelligence agencies, including that of Rabinder Singh.
5. The bitter rivalry between RAW and IB, and its effects.
6. The modus operandi of foreign intelligence agencies in recruiting moles in India.

The taxpayer of India has a right to know how his money is utilized, and after reading this book, he will not only be wiser but also furious. The author looks forward to a public debate and a rise in intelligence agency accountability as a result of the indignation.