Research and Analysis Wing
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The Research and Analysis Wing is India's premier external intelligence body. It was created as an independent unit in 1968 from the Intelligence Bureau which at that time handled both internal and external intelligence. Its headquarters are on Lodhi Road in New Delhi. The director of the organization is P K Hormese Tharakan, who was with RAW from 1989 to 2001, from the IPS batch of 1968.
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Profile, Structure and Funding
Most available information about the RAW is largely speculative. Relative to other intelligence agencies of comparable size, the RAW maintains a very low media profile and is largely ignored by Indian writers, filmmakers and the general public. It reports directly to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) (http://pmindia.nic.in/) and its operations and structure are not revealed to Parliament. Even its name and legal status are rather unusual - unlike the CIA, the RAW is not an "agency", but a "wing" of the Prime Minister's Office responsible for "research" (gathering of raw intelligence) and "analysis" (organizing information and drawing conclusions for presentation to the PMO).
The RAW's budget and funding are not discussed in public forums. According to some reports, part of its funding comes from "discretionary grants" provided to various government bodies, especially Indian embassies and representatives abroad. Estimates of its annual budget vary wildly among experts - from $16 million to $145 million.
One consequence of such a low profile is that it is very difficult to judge the RAW's effectiveness and performance. Reports cover the entire range of judgements from "highly effective and professional" to "inadequate and riddled with internal politics".
The cadre for RAW is drawn by deputation from state police forces and other intelligence agencies. The Research Analysis Service instituted during the times of Indira Gandhi is the All India Level Service of RAW.
Activities - Scope and Limits
The RAW is rumored to have around 12,000 agents in neighboring countries. Countries that have had past hostilities with India are also watched. It also provides assistance to interest groups that are able to promote India's national interests overseas. The RAW does not determine foreign policy - that is the job of the elected government.
Initially, Pakistan was a primary focus of RAW's activities, though this is reportedly diluting in recent years, as India seeks an enlarged role in world affairs. This, together with India's attempts to "decouple" itself from Pakistan among world leaders, is said to have given RAW increased tasks beyond Pakistan. Pakistan, however claims that as many as 35,000 RAW agents were in Pakistan at point of time. Naturally, specific focus areas can at best be speculated by studying India's foreign policy pronouncements. An important outcome of the Gujral government in 1997 was the decision not to significantly increment and rather stop all support for separatists groups in Pakistan. The Indian security establishment had envisaged the support as in an in-kind response to Pakistani intelligence and special force operations in India since the 80s. Subsequently, a large number of intelligence assets in these groups that had been cultivated during the earlier part of the decade decayed.
That said, RAW still closely monitors a large number of anti-India militant groups and training camps in Pakistani territory. Being an external intelligence agency, the RAW, however, does not operate in the troubled region of Kashmir - that comes under the purview of the IB.
An important element in India's external intelligence activities has been industrial espionage in support of the largely state-owned Indian defence industry. The depth of RAW's support in these activities, however, are not known and is under speculation.
As per convention, the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) under the Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for co-ordinating and analyzing intelligence activities between RAW, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA). In pratice, however, the effectiveness of the JIC has been varied.
Operations
Particularly active in Pakistan, the RAW is known to have gathered massive amounts of data on the Pakistani establishment and its military. It is often chastised by the Pakistani establishment for many of the country's ills.
The RAW was instrumental in obtaining independence for Bangladesh. Covert operations against the ruling East Pakistan government were carried out by aiding recalcitrant groups such as the Mukti Bahini. This culminated in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, resulting in Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan.
Since 1981, the RAW was rumored to have actively played a role in Sri Lanka supporting Tamil separatist groups like the LTTE. This backfired as the LTTE became more engaged with separatist groups in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. After 1986, following a policy change by the Indian government, this assistance was withdrawn and the RAW put the LTTE and similar groups under surveillance.
In 1999, RAW came under heavy censure in India for its failure to detect the infiltration of a large number of foreign guerrillas into the mountians of Kargil, Kashmir.
The RAW has provided significant amounts of intelligence on Osama bin Laden and the Taliban to its American counterpart, the CIA, after the September 11 incident in 2001.
In 2004, the RAW uncovered a senior officer allegedly working for the CIA, but failed to prevent his defection to the US. This caused a minor media uproar in India, focussing on RAW's sluggishness in responding to signals and evidence of infiltration. There has also been criticism for its failure to detect the coup of General Musharaf in Pakistan (Oct 1999) and King Gyanendera in Nepal (Jan 2005).
External links
- fas.org article on RAW (http://www.fas.org/irp/world/india/raw/)
- Jane's article on the CIA spy scandal (http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jid/jid040701_1_n.shtml)
- Rediff.com article (http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/feb/02spec3.htm)
- Global Security (http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/india/raw.htm)