Intelligence gathering: Multi-Agency Centre to spread to districts

Adding more power to counter-terror grid, the security establishment is now planning to expand the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), a nodal establishment for sharing intelligence inputs among various agencies at present operating at national and state levels, to districts even as the contribution from state agencies to the mechanism is "low".

The national-level MAC, set up after the Kargil intrusion, is located in Delhi while state capitals have subsidiary MACs (SMACs) where daily meetings are held to analyse inputs received in the previous 24 hours.

Now, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) along with the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the nodal agency for the MAC, is "thinking of" extending the connectivity of SMACs to the district level. The Intelligence Bureau is picking up districts in a phased manner as there is an "issue of connecting them with the lease line, encryptors etc".

This was disclosed in a report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs headed by Congress Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma, on the Demands for Grants of Ministry of Home Affairs placed in Parliament on Thursday.

While the panel observed that the contribution from state agencies to the MAC that has been made over the years is "lower" in the overall inputs received by the national-level MAC, Intelligence Bureau Director Arvind Kumar has told the panel that the MAC is a "very critical component of India's counter-terrorism grid and it has been "functioning well".

However, when asked about state agencies bringing their intelligence to the MAC, he said most of the states share their intelligence with the MAC because matters also pertain to other states. "But there have been a few instances where some state agencies have hesitated to share their intelligence inputs with the MAC," the panel quoted him as saying.

Around 28 agencies are part of the MAC and every organisation that is in any way involved in counter-terrorism is a member of this mechanism. Similarly, states have SMACs.

Both MAC and SMACs hold meetings almost every day to analyse inputs received in the last 24 hours and follow-up action is "devised or agreed upon". Besides, there is also a focussed group meeting of the MAC where specific information on a specific theatre is discussed where only concerned agencies participate.

A weekly meeting of the MAC is also held with the National Security Advisor in attendance. The IB also hold a quarterly conference with the Director General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) to discuss issues related to border areas.

Noting that several agencies like IB, RAW, Army and others collect intelligence, the Parliamentary panel said the “biggest challenge” is how to “coordinate, create and act upon inputs gathered by these units.

“At times, due to lack of coordination, distrust amongst those intelligence agencies, timely action to prevent terrorist incidents could not be taken,” it said while asking the MHA to act as a focal point of coordination.

It also said the intelligence agencies should strive for increased coordination and cooperation not only at district, state and regional level but also at international level with friendly foreign counterparts in developing and sharing intelligence to “mitigate and nullify threats”.