IB chief against P Chidambaram’s plan to create NATGRID

Union home minister P Chidambaram’s ambitious plan to restructure India’s security architecture is facing resistance. Intelligence Bureau (IB) director Nehchal Sandhu is not keen on two major initiatives that Chidambaram brought up nearly two years ago — the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) and the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

Sandhu believes the two will dilute the IB’s vast charter. This is ironical. Both men play a critical role in India’s security matrix and share a good and healthy relationship. While Chidambaram cannot suffer fools, Sandhu is one of the finest “operational” officers.

Sandhu has headed the operations desk of the IB for perhaps the longest period. He also spent the better part of his career combating terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir. That said, Sandhu is conscious of the fact that as IB director, he cannot be part of a move that will leave a truncated version of the organisation that he has served for over 30 years.

A few days after the Delhi blasts in September this year, Sandhu shot off a missive to his senior-most officers seeking concrete suggestions on how to improve the agency’s counter-terrorism efforts. He was worried that the IB had failed to anticipate the terror attacks. More so, after Chidambaram admitted that “there was no (prior) intelligence” available.

Sandhu immediately began a major shake-up and among other initiatives, sought suggestions from within the IB. The missive refers to improvements that have taken place within the American and British intelligence communities after 9/11.

It also cites the official history of the British Security Service (popularly known as MI5), ‘The Defence of the Realm’, published a few years ago.

Sandhu’s detractors say that his current efforts are also a subtle attempt to put off NATGRID and NCTC. Sources in the Union home ministry told DNA that Sandhu has consistently opposed both the projects. His opposition to the role that NATGRID will play is well known.

NATGRID was formed a couple of years ago to create a comprehensive information pool that connects 22 databases to facilitate real-time sharing of critical data. Chidambaram surprised many by roping in someone from the private sector - Captain Raghu Raman, who was part of the Mahindra Group, and has a solid background in security combined with extensive knowledge of creating information systems. But with almost a year of his two-year tenure over, Sandhu has been working furiously to leave behind a smarter IB with sharper focus on counter-terrorism. In fact, soon after he took over, he had transferred out several senior officials who had spent too much time in Delhi.
Many officers, at the level of additional directors, were posted out to their areas of responsibility to ensure they were more hands on with their focus areas. He also created new groups within the IB, including a special ‘research group’, that has some key officers taking a long-term perspective of the challenges that the IB will have to grapple with in the future.

Sandhu, sources said, views NATGRID with suspicion. According to senior officials, NATGRID would be a major encroachment on the IB’s established terrain and also put fetters on its free access tosensitive data such as phone call records, intercepted emails, financial data, etc., that the agency currently enjoys complete access to.

NATGRID will place elaborate protocols in place that seeks authentication of those who seek the information and also bars them from seeking anything that is beyond the set parameters. He is also not enamoured with the proposed NCTC as he feels that this could take away a major chunk of the IB’s current responsibilities. He wants the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), set up in 2003, but defunct for a while, strengthened to improve the information-sharing process with other security agencies. This works for him because the MAC is run by the IB with complete control.