Anti-terror unit to get more teeth

Cabinet approval for outfit this month

The National  Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) is expected to be  an expanded form of the   Multi-Agency-centre (MAC), the nodal intelligence cell  under the Union Home Ministry.

Sources told Deccan Herald that the NCTC may not have “the ambitious reach” of the US NCTC that was set up in 2004 following the 9/11 attack, with a mission  to “lead nation’s effort to combat terrorism at home and abroad.”

The NCTC may get cabinet approval this month.  The new mechanism  will be an umbrella  body that would include, among others.  the Intelligence Bureau (IB)’s MAC , Joint Intelligence Committee, National Technical Research Organisation(NTRO) and the National Security Guard.

National Investigation agency (NIA) and the National Intelligence Grid (NatGrid) will also come under the NCTC. The Research & Analysis Wing will also  share key information on terror with NCTC.

“Consultations with the states have completed as NCTC’s  cross-country operational reach has to be matched with the Federal structure of the country,” sources said. The body will have overriding powers while pursuing the counter-terror cases.

No operational wing

The Indian NCTC will , however, not have “operational wing.” The US model, on the other hand, has around 500 personnel, drawn from 16 departments and agencies, for analysis and strategic operational plans .

The Director of NCTC in the US  is a Deputy Secretary reporting directly to the president on counter-terrorism and to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) regarding intelligence matters.

The Indian NCTC will be reporting to the Union Home Minister. It will, however, be  accountable to the Parliament.  The details of its command and control will be worked out shortly. Doubts about NatGrid  remaining an independent entity have been dismissed at the highest level as it will also be “  subsumed” in the NCTC.

 “The Finance Ministry is on board on the issue,” a top official in internal security said adding that NatGrid will not directly deal with the banks  but seek information from Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Finance Ministry.  

According to senior intelligence officials, NCTC will be a vastly  expanded form of MAC that was proposed following the 1999 Kargil intrusion. MAC  was set up in 2001 to have faster accessibility to the intelligence information from across the country. It got legal backing in January 2009 when it held its first meeting under Home Minister P Chidambaram.