Intelligence Bureau
From Wikinfo
The Intelligence Bureau is India's internal intelligence agency. Said to be the world's oldest agency, it was formed in 1947. Shrouded in a veil of secrecy, the IB is used to garner intelligence from within India and also execute counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism tasks. The intelligence bureau is comprised of employees from the law enforcement agencies mostly Indian Penal Service officers as well as from the military. The current chief of the IB is Ajit Kumar Doval.
The arcane workings of the IB are largely speculative. One known task of the IB is to clear licences to HAM radio enthusiasts. The IB also passes on intelligence between other Indian intelligence agencies and the police. The IB also grants the necessary security clearances to Indian diplomats and judges before they take oath. On rare occasions IB officers interact with the media during crises. The IB is also rumoured to intercept and open up around 6,000 letters daily.
The Bureau is also authorised to conduct wiretapping without a warrant. This clause is mostly misused by the ruling governments to spy on its political opponents, sometimes indicting them with false criminal charges. The IB is also has numerous authors who write letters to various newspapers and magazine to enforce the government’s perspective.
Formed in 1947, the IB was India’s external and internal intelligence agency. Due to lapses in the part of the intelligence agencies to predict the Chinese aggression in 1962, the IB was split up and entrusted the task of internal intelligence. The external intelligence branch was handed to the newly created Research and Analysis Wing.
External links
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Intelligence_Bureau" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_Bureau, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
