India and the Boundless Informant

[nrupatunga]

India and the Boundless Informant

The Guardian newspaper's startling disclosures regarding United States National Security Agency's top-secret data-mining tool called Boundless Informant pose a big intellectual challenge for Indian strategists and political class.

Just consider that James Clapper, Director of the NIA knows everything that is needed to know about our political class. Our senior politicians – and the elites as a whole – almost without exception use Blackberry; they "google"; they do social networking; they converse over "Skype". Conceivably, the movers and shakers of India's power calculus – be it Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi, P. Chidambaram, A.K Antony, L. K. Advani, etc. – all depend on the US-based internet servers. In fact, the government has freely distributed iPads to our parliamentarians to improve their efficiency at work.

Most certainly, our top intelligence czars and army commanders use cellphones. Conceivably, US knows more about Maoist leader Muppala Lakshmana Rao's daily routine than Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde does. So, what does it all add up to? Clearly, the damage to national security and our dignity and self-respect as a sovereign nation is incalculable.

But then, the US also has a deplorable record of double speak when it comes to "counter-terrorism". Didn't Headley use a cell phone? Didn't he use email? There can be no beating around the bush now that the US didn't know anything about what David Headley spoke and did during his numerous covert missions to India for planning the horrendous terrorist strike in Mumbai in November 2008. The Big Brother used the information carefully, discreetly and selectively to the extent that it impacted on the US' national security interests. Period.

It is time our pundits reworked their trade and learned to view the paradigm shift in world politics through the Indian prism. They are focused on China's rise – rightly so – but they blithely assume the US and India are "natural allies." Yet, India is a key target country for the US' surveillance. Clearly, the US factors in India's future potential to become at least half a superpower.

The Boundless Informant comes as a wake-up call to the effect that what are Beijing's woes today from the US's containment strategy might as well be Delhi's tomorrow if and when India begins to get its act together as a booming economy and world power.

Therefore, don't ask against whom is the US's missile defence system being deployed in the Persian Gulf. The Americans may tell the Sheikhs the ABM will "contain" Iran, but its radars and interceptors will also monitor India's rapidly growing missile capabilities.

A very well written article. Clearly it mentions that there is no need to go gaga over Indo-US relations as "natural allies". We need to be pragmatic, and take necessary and bold steps to protect and promote our interests. No need to get emotional on US/europe/russia or israel on it being any sort of "natural allies" of us.