US may get to check Indian military bases

US inspectors would be given access to Indian military bases to inspect American military systems in service with the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, under the text of the end-use monitoring agreement agreed upon by the two sides on Monday during US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s visit to India.

India does not have such an agreement with any other country, and many within the government and military are worried about its implications, given the geo-political unpredictability of South Asia.

The standard text of this agreement would be an appendix to all letters of agreements for future defence equipment purchases between the two countries. The agreement would also cover all military systems bought from the US in the past, such as the weapon locating radar with the army and the VVIP jets operated by the air force for the prime minister and other dignitaries.

The ministry of defence maintained a worrying silence on Tuesday, while the government evaded any direct response in Parliament over the agreement’s text. However, spin doctors from within the establishment were trying to project the agreement as a huge victory for them, saying there was no direct reference to “physical onsite inspection”. But military sources who have studied the American agreement, better known as Golden Sentry programme, say that “physical verification” was integral to it.

Government sources said the agreement says that the US will satisfy itself against misuse or resale of the systems with India through “joint consultation” or “joint security verification”. It says that the “Government of India agrees to make available through mutual consultation to authorised US personnel” access to US equipment in Indian military service.

The public relations mechanism was interpreting it to say that the inspections would be done at a “place and time of our choosing”, though these claims do not stand up to scrutiny. The Golden Sentry inspections are done by “Tigers”, specialised teams of the Pentagon, at random on defence articles and services provided to foreign customers through government-to-government sales called FMS (foreign military sales). All sensitive military systems are sold by the US through FMS.  

The only concession, perhaps, is that India has some say in deciding the time of the inspection, and it could also try and avoid US inspectors in the most sensitive installations. However, the question is whether it is logistically possible for India to move entire systems and aircraft to a place of its choosing.
 
The Golden Sentry programme is a cradle-to-grave inspection mechanism governed by the US department of defence (DOD) to monitor all military equipment sold to foreign countries. The aim of the mission, according to Pentagon, is to “minimise security risks” and to satisfy its “foreign policy objectives.”
 
Many military sources, including senior generals and service chiefs, have in the past termed the agreement “intrusive”. Strangely, the agreement also means the US inspectors have to regularly “evaluate” and “plan” India’s military capabilities.
 
Other arms of the US government such as the state and commerce departments too have monitoring programmes, but they are mostly based on detailed documentation, and not so much onsite inspections.
 
According to Pentagon officials, while normally the end use monitoring agreement “presupposes a trusted partner” if the circumstances prove different they could take actions ranging from demarche to sanctions. For many in the military, the setback to India’s LCA (light combat aircraft) programme and the forced cannibalisation of Sea King helicopters of navy because of sanctions after the 1998 nuclear tests are grave lessons in dealing with the US militarily.