The Hindu : Front Page : Internal warnings on mole threat ignored

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 04, 2004

Front Page

Front Page

Internal warnings on mole threat ignored

By Praveen Swami

NEW DELHI, AUG.3. Research and Analysis Wing analysts warned of the possibility that their organisation may have been penetrated by hostile intelligence services as early as 1994: a full decade before the escape of a suspected CIA mole, Rabinder Singh.

Counter-intelligence experts at RAW issued the warnings on the basis of a series of inhouse studies, which looked at the case of the CIA's highest-ranking defector, Aldrich `Rick' Ames. Ames' case was compared with those of a dozen RAW officers whom hostile intelligence services had attempted to compromise, in some cases successfully.

In general, the studies found, RAW had failed to address early warning signs. Subsequently, successive chiefs received warnings that the organisation needed a thorough evaluation of its counter-espionage procedures, but calls for reform were largely ignored.

Ames began working for the Soviet Union's external intelligence service, the KGB, in 1985. During his nine-year career as a double agent, Ames almost single-handedly succeeded in blinding the CIA's eyes in the Soviet Union. Until his arrest, he sold the KGB the names of 25 top CIA assets in the Soviet Union, a list which included one woman. Ten of the CIA's agents were subsequently executed by the Soviet Union. Ames' role as a double agent was only discovered after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the scandal shook the CIA to its roots.

Lessons from Ames case

Among the lessons of the Ames affair that most interested RAW experts was that his eventual recruitment by the KGB was preceded by a long history of professional misconduct. During his early career, Ames' superiors complained about violations of security regulations, disregard of financial and procedural requirements, unauthorised sexual relationships, and alcoholism.

However, the locker-room camaraderie amongst CIA staff — one common to most intelligence organisations — meant his career did not suffer. Ames' long history of misconduct was never entered in his service record and he received no real admonishment from the organisation.

Mr. Singh's career followed a remarkably similar path. His superiors complained about his conduct as early as 1985, while he was part of a covert intelligence unit targeting Khalistan terrorists. On that occasion, he was charged with attempting to secure the release of a convict in return for personal favours, using his intelligence work as cover. This affair, and later suggestions that he was living beyond his means, were never investigated. Potential problems posed by his inappropriate contact with both affluent civilians and politicians, as well as the fact that his family was living in the United States, were ignored. So were rumours that Mr. Singh was fishing for information he did not need from colleagues.

Structural problems

CIA counter-intelligence personnel also discovered several structural problems with security that enabled Ames to operate with relative ease. He often carried classified work home. On occasion, he walked out of both the CIA's Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and the U.S. Embassy in Rome carrying bags and envelopes stuffed with documents. The CIA's computer system allowed him to download secret documents on to disks and his personal laptop, making it easy to pass on the material to his KGB handlers. Like RAW, the CIA had minimised random searches of staff leaving their offices.

On the basis of the Ames affair, counter-intelligence experts recommended a series of counter-measures. RAW's physical security had to be beefed up, they said, and searches of senior staff made a regular feature at its offices. Searches had been minimised through the 1980s as a result of staff protests but a firm stand now needed to be taken, counter-intelligence personnel said.

New data security measures were also recommended, including the purchase of photocopiers that made it impossible to copy documents without authorisation. Several of these measures have been instituted in the wake of the Rabinder Singh scandal.

(Concluded)

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page