Author: Man Mohan
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 16, 2004
Powerful military nations' intelligence
agencies, specially of the US, are keeping a close look to ensure that
'Buddha' doesn't surprise them with a 'third smile' in India.
India's first nuclear tests at Pokhran
in 1974 were codenamed 'The Buddha is smiling.' Like the 1974's, the 1998
nuclear tests in Pokhran were also carried out on Buddha Purnima, thus
earning an "unofficial name" as 'The Buddha is still smiling."
This had embarrassed the American
intelligence community. For long, the US administration was confident that
India would not dare to carry out nuclear tests without its knowledge.
It is said that Washington had forced the Narasimha Rao govrnment to abandon
nuclear tests at the last minute.
confirming that foreign spy agencies'
have stepped up interest in the country's nuclear and space establishments,
a key Intelligence Bureau officer said, "The military Powers, specially
the US, have been upset since 1998 as the Pokhran-II nuclear tests took
them by surprise. They don't want Buddha to smile again without their knowledge."
Among the various American intelligence
agencies, National Security Agency (NSA), set up on November 1, 1952, is
highly active on the India front. Known as "America's codemakers and codebreakers,"
NSA is one of the most secret (and secretive) members of the US intelligence
community.
It collects data mainly through
signals intelligence (SIGINT) from space (space telephone call monitoring).
For "human resources" it depends heavily on the CIA, American radio networks
and academic institutions.
According to a recent report by
noted analysist B Raman, in the countries which covertly collaborate with
NSA, such as the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan
and Israel, the monitoring stations have been set up with the permission
of local governments.
