Despite five decades of nationhood, Indian Intelligence organisations remain shrouded in mystery; except for a couple of books written by former Intelligence officers that give readers a glimpse into the twilight world of spies— like the Sin of National Conscience by R N Kulkarni— which shines light into dark corners of the Intelligence establishment.

This book is an Indian version of the old classic The Real Spy World by Miles Copeland, a former CIA man. The author— a former Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer— highlights how he informed the government well in advance (around December 1992) about the Mumbai blasts.

But the authorities ignored his warning and in this context he also refers to the weak coastal security arrangements and opines that the Coast Guard Service has a stronger seaward orientation than a landward one, that weakens coastal security.

There is a reference to the government’s inertia over ‘Islamist modules’ way back in 1991-92 that could have been busted if not for imaginary fears about a backlash to effectively neutralise Pakistani ISI operations on Indian territory.

To quote: “The political and intelligence infrastructure of the country was simply not ready to hit Pakistan along its own faultlines” (pg 464).

Apart from this the author exposes the organisational weaknesses within the IB that have been ignored by successive governments. It states, “The IB was and still continues to be a police organisation” (pg 81). He adds, “Agent safety was not part of IB’s professional ethics” (pg 491). Considering an intelligence agency is only as good as its agents, they cannot afford to be compromised or abandoned to hostile forces.

This suggests the IB, which deals with domestic intelligence, has a poor track record. The narrative discusses the North-eastern region in great detail where the author spent some time.

According to the book the IB’s effectiveness in unearthing spies embedded within the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, resulted in their Indian counterparts of the external intelligence agency in Pakistan being exposed similarly. This led to requests by the external intelligence service the Research & Analysis Wing to the Prime Minister’s Office to instruct the IB to tone down its aggressive counter-intelligence operations.

The author reveals how he masqueraded as a journalist to maintain his cover during intelligence work. Soon after retirement the IB attempted to intimidate the author with a speeding van which hit his car, he states (pg 515). He also explains at great length how the government misuses the IB time and again. On the whole the book makes good reading and is interspersed with a lot of political developments as intelligence operations need to be understood in the appropriate backdrop.

OPEN SECRETS; AUTHOR : Maloy Krishna Dhar