About Indain R&AW
Formation
The framework of Indian intelligence
R&AW started as a wing of the main Intelligence Bureau with 250 employees and an annual budget of Rs 2 crore (roughly $450,000). In the early seventies, its annual budget had risen to Rs 30 crores while its personnel numbered several thousand. In 1971, Kao had persuaded the Government to set up the Aviation Research Centre (ARC). The ARC's job was aerial reconnaissance. It replaced the Indian Air Force's old reconnaissance aircraft and by the mid-70s, R&AW, through the ARC, had high quality aerial pictures of the installations along the Chinese and Pakistani borders. Presently, the budget of R&AW is speculated to be as high as $150 million to as low as $31 million.
National Technical Facilities Organisation
The Government of India has added another intelligence agency which is dedicated to collection of technical intelligence (TECHINT). India's new hi-tech spying agency, the National Technical Facilities Organisation (NTFO), also known as National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), is believed to be functioning under R&AW, although it remains autonomous to some degree. While the exact nature of the operations conducted by NTRO are classified, it is believed that it deals with research on imagery and communications using various platforms.
Objectives
The present R&AW objectives include, and are not limited to:
• Monitoring the political and military developments in adjoining countries, which have direct bearing on India's national security and the formulation of its foreign policy.
• Secondly, molding international public opinion with the help of the strong and vibrant Indian diaspora.
In the past, following the Sino-Indian war and due to what were volatile relations between India and Pakistan, R&AW's objectives had also consisted the following:
• To watch the development of international communism and the schism between the two big communist nations, the Soviet Union and China. As with other countries, both these powers had direct access to the communist parties in India.
• To control and limit the supply of military hardware to Pakistan, from mostly European countries, America and more importantly from China.
Organization
Organizational structure of R&AW.
R&AW has been organized on the lines of the CIA. The Director of R&AW is designated "Secretary (Research)" in the Cabinet Secretariat. Most of the previous Directors have been experts on either Pakistan or China. They also have the benefit of training in either the USA or the UK, and more recently in Israel. The "Secretary (R)", although is under direct command of Prime Minister, reports on an administrative basis to the Cabinet Secretary, who reports to the Prime Minister (PM). However, on a daily basis the "Secretary (R)" reports to the National Security Advisor. Reporting to the "Secretary (R)" are:
• An Additional Director responsible for the Office of Special Operations and intelligence collected from different countries processed by large number of Joint Secretaries, who are the functional heads of various specified desks with different regional divisions/areas/countries: Area one - Pakistan; Area two - China and Southeast Asia; Area three - the Middle East and Africa; and Area four - other countries. Two Special Joint Secretaries, reporting to the Additional Director, head the Electronics and Technical Department which is the nodal agency for ETS, NTFO and the RRC.
• The Director General of Security having two important sections the Aviation Research Centre headed by one Special Director and the Special Services Bureau controlled by two Special Secretaries.
The internal structure of the R&AW is a matter of speculation, but brief overviews of the same are present in the public domain. Attached to the Headquarters of R&AW at Lodhi Road, New Delhi are different regional headquarters, which have direct links to overseas stations and are headed by a controlling officer who keeps records of different projects assigned to field officers who are posted abroad. Intelligence is usually collected from a variety of sources by field officers and deputy field officers; it is either preprocessed by a senior field officer or by a desk officer. The desk officer then passes the information to the Joint Secretary and then on to the Additional Secretary and from there it is disseminated to the concerned end user. R&AW personnel are called "Research Officers" instead of the traditional "agents". There is a sizable number of female officers in R&AW even at the operational level. In recent years, R&AW has shifted its primary focus from Pakistan to China and have started operating a separate desk for this purpose.
Formation
The framework of Indian intelligence
R&AW started as a wing of the main Intelligence Bureau with 250 employees and an annual budget of Rs 2 crore (roughly $450,000). In the early seventies, its annual budget had risen to Rs 30 crores while its personnel numbered several thousand. In 1971, Kao had persuaded the Government to set up the Aviation Research Centre (ARC). The ARC's job was aerial reconnaissance. It replaced the Indian Air Force's old reconnaissance aircraft and by the mid-70s, R&AW, through the ARC, had high quality aerial pictures of the installations along the Chinese and Pakistani borders. Presently, the budget of R&AW is speculated to be as high as $150 million to as low as $31 million.
National Technical Facilities Organisation
The Government of India has added another intelligence agency which is dedicated to collection of technical intelligence (TECHINT). India's new hi-tech spying agency, the National Technical Facilities Organisation (NTFO), also known as National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), is believed to be functioning under R&AW, although it remains autonomous to some degree. While the exact nature of the operations conducted by NTRO are classified, it is believed that it deals with research on imagery and communications using various platforms.
Objectives
The present R&AW objectives include, and are not limited to:
• Monitoring the political and military developments in adjoining countries, which have direct bearing on India's national security and the formulation of its foreign policy.
• Secondly, molding international public opinion with the help of the strong and vibrant Indian diaspora.
In the past, following the Sino-Indian war and due to what were volatile relations between India and Pakistan, R&AW's objectives had also consisted the following:
• To watch the development of international communism and the schism between the two big communist nations, the Soviet Union and China. As with other countries, both these powers had direct access to the communist parties in India.
• To control and limit the supply of military hardware to Pakistan, from mostly European countries, America and more importantly from China.
Organization
Organizational structure of R&AW.
R&AW has been organized on the lines of the CIA. The Director of R&AW is designated "Secretary (Research)" in the Cabinet Secretariat. Most of the previous Directors have been experts on either Pakistan or China. They also have the benefit of training in either the USA or the UK, and more recently in Israel. The "Secretary (R)", although is under direct command of Prime Minister, reports on an administrative basis to the Cabinet Secretary, who reports to the Prime Minister (PM). However, on a daily basis the "Secretary (R)" reports to the National Security Advisor. Reporting to the "Secretary (R)" are:
• An Additional Director responsible for the Office of Special Operations and intelligence collected from different countries processed by large number of Joint Secretaries, who are the functional heads of various specified desks with different regional divisions/areas/countries: Area one - Pakistan; Area two - China and Southeast Asia; Area three - the Middle East and Africa; and Area four - other countries. Two Special Joint Secretaries, reporting to the Additional Director, head the Electronics and Technical Department which is the nodal agency for ETS, NTFO and the RRC.
• The Director General of Security having two important sections the Aviation Research Centre headed by one Special Director and the Special Services Bureau controlled by two Special Secretaries.
The internal structure of the R&AW is a matter of speculation, but brief overviews of the same are present in the public domain. Attached to the Headquarters of R&AW at Lodhi Road, New Delhi are different regional headquarters, which have direct links to overseas stations and are headed by a controlling officer who keeps records of different projects assigned to field officers who are posted abroad. Intelligence is usually collected from a variety of sources by field officers and deputy field officers; it is either preprocessed by a senior field officer or by a desk officer. The desk officer then passes the information to the Joint Secretary and then on to the Additional Secretary and from there it is disseminated to the concerned end user. R&AW personnel are called "Research Officers" instead of the traditional "agents". There is a sizable number of female officers in R&AW even at the operational level. In recent years, R&AW has shifted its primary focus from Pakistan to China and have started operating a separate desk for this purpose.