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US National Intelligence Director to visit Islamabad

March 15, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Mar. 15 (ANI): America’s National Intelligence Director Dennis C Blair is set to arrive in Islamabad to kickstart discussions on a Pak-US strategic dialogue.

Dennis will hold meetings with top Pakistani officials, including Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Shuja Pasha.

The Daily Times quoted diplomatic sources as saying that several top US officials are expected to visit Islamabad before the March 24 deadline for the dialogue between both countries.

During the strategic dialogue in 2008, both sides had discussed regional and international issues of common interest.

Washington and Islamabad have agreed to co-operate in the fields of education, science and technology, with both sides committing to holding dialogues on energy and education.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani chaired a high-level meeting on Saturday to develop a “comprehensive, coherent and well-coordinated approach” for the forthcoming Pak-US strategic dialogue. (ANI)

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Chidambaram discusses counter-terrorism, 26/11 update with US officials

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 10 (ANI): Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram held meetings here with senior Obama administration officials, including National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. (retired) James Jones, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and the U.S. Attorney General Eric H Holder Jr. on Wednesday.

Enhanced co-operation between India and US on tackling terrorism particularly in South Asia dominated the discussions, sources said.

Pakistan’s inaction in dealing with the perpetrators of 26/11 was also raised.

Chidambaram also met Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Chairwoman of Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Chidambaram is scheduled to meet the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday.

On Tuesday, officials from FBI, intelligence and security agencies and the New York Police briefed Chidambaram about the measures being taken by them to prevent a Mumbai-type terrorist attack.

From walking at the Penn Station, to a briefing by the New York Police, which had made several changes in its counter-terrorism measures post the 26/11 attacks, Chidambaram and his team of officials got to know what a mega city like New York can do to protect itself from terrorists without inconveniencing its residents.

Chidambaram was also informed about the coast guard facility at Staten Island. It was an important aspect of his trip given that the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26 last year entered Mumbai through the sea route.

Within hours of his landing in New York, Chidambaram visited the Joint Terror Task Force Centre of the FBI where he was given an exclusive briefing by the New York Police Department.

Before leaving New York City for Washington by train, Chidambaram was briefed about security of the Mass Transport System at the Penn station.

The Home Minister is also scheduled to meet the top US intelligence and security officials, including FBI Director Robert Mueller and Director of National Intelligence Dennis C Blair; besides meeting National Security Adviser, Gen (Retd) James Jones at the White House. A tour of the National Counter-terrorism Centre in Virginia is also on his itinerary.

Besides meeting experts and think-tanks” members, Chidambaram is expected to hold talks with key US lawmakers, including Senator Joe Lieberman, Chairman, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; and Congressman Sylvester Reyes, Chairman, House Select Committee on Intelligence. (ANI)

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Chidambaram meets FBI, New York Police officials, gets anti-terrorism tips

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New York/Washington, Sep.9 (ANI): India’s Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday, was briefed by officials from FBI, intelligence and security agencies and the New York Police about the measures being taken by them to prevent a Mumbai-type terrorist attack.

Within hours of his landing in New York, Chidambaram visited the Joint Terror Task Force Centre of the FBI where he was given an exclusive briefing by the New York Police Department.

Before leaving New York City for Washington by train, Chidambaram was briefed about security of the Mass Transport System at the Penn station.

In Washington, Chidambaram will meet with top Obama Administration officials, heads of intelligence and security agencies and influential lawmakers over the next three days.

Apart from discussing the 26/11 dossiers that India has submitted to Pakistan,Chidambaram will also discuss issues related to combating financing of terrorism and steps which will need to be taken in this regard as well as with regard to prevention of money laundering.

Ways to strengthen Indo-US anti-terrorism cooperation are among the issues likely to figure prominently in the talks on Wednesday and Thursday.

Chidambaram will meet his counterpart Janet Napolitano; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Attorney General Eric H Holder.

Besides meeting experts and think-tanks’ members, Chidambaram is expected to hold talks with key US lawmakers, including Senator Joe Lieberman, Chairman, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; and Congressman Sylvester Reyes, Chairman, House Select Committee on Intelligence. (ANI)

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US spy agencies not meeting goal of intelligence overhaul, says internal report

April 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr.2 (ANI): A withering internal report made public on Wednesday has criticized the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for bureaucratic bloat, financial mismanagement and a failure to end the turf battles among America’s spy agencies that led to disastrous intelligence failures in recent years.

The report, by the inspector general, was the most detailed account to date of problems that bedevil America’s intelligence agencies more than four years after Congress and President George W. Bush created the director’s office to overcome weaknesses exposed by the Sept. 11 attacks, reports the New York Post.
It criticized as excessive the amount of time that successive intelligence chiefs have spent briefing the White House and Congress compared with the relatively little time they have devoted to managing a byzantine intelligence apparatus.
The report was completed in November, before the Obama administration took office. But like his two predecessors in the post, Dennis C. Blair, the new intelligence chief, spends several days a week at the White House delivering the morning intelligence briefing to the president.

While written in dense bureaucratic language, the report made clear that many of the goals of the intelligence overhaul in 2005 are far from being realized.

The report concludes that there has been insufficient progress on streamlining intelligence analysis and force collaboration among the Central Intelligence Agency and its 15 counterparts.

Lawmakers say the report has exposed the flaws in the legislation.
Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for the director of national intelligence, said Blair was putting in place “numerous changes to improve and streamline communications” among American intelligence agencies. (ANI)

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US feels next Taliban offensive may emanate from FATA

March 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar.12 (ANI); The United States feels the next offensive from the Taliban against it would emanate from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan.
“The central nervous system for the planning (of an attack on the US soil) would emanate from FATA,” the Dawn quoted Senator Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, as asking during a hearing on current and future worldwide threats to the national security of the United States.

The Director of US National Intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, replied in the affirmative. akistan has come under the scanner in a US Senate hearing this week, as both officials and senators have repeatedly accused Islamabad of allowing terrorists to use its soil for planning attacks on the United States.

Two key US officials – director national intelligence and director military intelligence – told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Pakistan has allowed Taliban to operate freely from Quetta while the tribal areas have become a ‘central nervous system’ for al-Qaeda.

US lawmakers and officials also said that Lashkar-e-Taiba has the ideological commitment to replace al-Qaeda as the next major terrorist group in the world.

They said that the Pakistani establishment and intelligence agencies had taken some measures against the Lashkar recently but were not cooperating fully with the United States in dealing with this threat.

The committee was also told that the Lashkar had supporters among the Pakistanis living in the United States who could abet its efforts to carry out a terrorist attack in North America. (ANI)

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Obama’s pick for intelligence chief received Saudi donations

February 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 27 (ANI): Chas W. Freeman Jr., picked by the Obama Administration to head the National Intelligence Council, is a veteran former diplomat who heads a think tank that has received major financing from Saudi Arabia.

The appointment of Freeman Jr., who served as US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War and has major expertise regarding China.

The new intelligence chief pick of Obama brought praise from some quarters, but criticism from elements of the pro-Israel community and from congressional Republicans, The Washington Times reported.

Freeman has been president of the Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), a Washington think tank, since 1997. In 2007, he accepted a one million dollar donation from Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud that, according to a press release at the time, was meant for “future projects” for the council.

In his new position, which does not require Senate confirmation, Freeman will oversee production of national intelligence estimates and other analyses that represent the consensus judgments on which national security policy is based.

“Ambassador Freeman is a distinguished public servant who brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in defense, diplomacy and intelligence that are absolutely critical to understanding today’s threats and how to address them,” said Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence, in announcing the appointment.

However, members of pro-Israeli community have privately criticized the choice of Mr. Freeman since rumors of the appointment leaked earlier this week. Republican members of Congress also have objected.

On Thursday night, Senator Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois began circulating a letter to the inspector general of the Office of the Director for National Intelligence urging a review of Freeman’s organization. (ANI)

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CIA sees economic meltdown as a major security threat to the US

February 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb.26 (ANI): The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has in its first Economic Intelligence report has said that the current economic meltdown should be seen as a preeminent security threats facing the United States.

“We’ve seen the impact of a worldwide recession occur throughout the world,” said CIA chief Leon Panetta.

The spy agency is following worrisome trends in many corners of the globe, from East Asia to Latin America.

In private meetings yesterday, Latin American intelligence officials were quoted by the Washington Post as warning their U.S. counterparts of a crisis spreading throughout the hemisphere, particularly in Argentina, Ecuador and Venezuela.

“Clearly, it’s related: What happens in the economy, and what’s happening as a result of that, is affecting the stability of the world,” Panetta said.

Other key intelligence officials have raised similar alarms in other settings.

The new director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, told a Senate panel this month that economic woes have largely replaced terrorism as the country’s number one security challenge.

Blair repeated the theme yesterday in testimony before the House intelligence committee, noting that three European governments have fallen because of economic issues.

“Our analysis indicates that economic crisis increases the risk of regime-threatening instability if it continues for a one- or two-year period,” Blair said.

“Instability can loosen the fragile hold that many developing countries have on law and order,” he added.

The economic crunch adds to a formidable list of global concerns facing the new administration’s security team. (ANI)

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US intelligence chief says Pak losing control of border areas

February 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb.13 (ANI): The new director of national intelligence in the United States, Dennis C. Blair has reiterated that no significant improvement in Afghanistan is possible unless Pakistan regains control of its own border areas.

According to the New York Times, Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Islamabad was losing authority over that territory and that even more developed parts of Pakistan were coming under the sway of Islamic radicalism.

He also warned that the global economic turmoil and the instability it could ignite had outpaced terrorism as the most urgent threat facing the United States.

Blair used his testimony to deliver a withering critique of the Afghan government’s inability to halt the spread of the Taliban, and he said corruption in Kabul and throughout the country had bolstered support for the Taliban and warlords.

The stark assessment of the security picture in Afghanistan laid bare the obstacles facing the Obama administration as it aims to direct more American troops and attention toward quelling the violence in the country.

In a departure from recent years, when the heads of several intelligence agencies joined the director of national intelligence to deliver the testimony on the threats facing the nation, Blair faced the committee alone, a sign that the Obama administration plans for him to take on a more public role at the top of the intelligence pyramid.

He linked Pakistan’s problems, in part, to the fact that it was among the countries most badly hurt by the economic crisis.

American officials say Pakistan’s tribal areas remain home to the core leadership of Al Qaeda, though Blair said that its leadership had been battered in recent months by what he called “a succession of blows as damaging to the group as any since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.”

“Kabul’s inability to build effective, honest, and loyal provincial- and district-level institutions capable of providing basic services and sustainable, licit livelihoods erodes its popular legitimacy and increases the influence of local warlords and the Taliban,” Blair said. (ANI)

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