Arvind Kumar appointed Intelligence Bureau director, Samant Goel next RAW chief

Darth Malgus

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https://www.firstpost.com/india/key...-as-intelligence-bureau-director-6884141.html

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed Samant Goel as the next chief of the external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and Arvind Kumar as the Director of Intelligence Bureau (IB). Modi, as chairman of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, also cleared the empanelment of 1986 batch IPS officer in the rank of Director General.

#NewsAlert – New Chiefs of IB and Raw appointed. Arvind Kumar, IPS 1984 batch, to replace Rajiv Jain as the new IB director. Samant Goel, IPS 1984, to be the new RAW chief. | Input: @manojkumargupta pic.twitter.com/Khk15uff9X

— News18 (@CNNnews18) June 26, 2019

Both, Goel and Kumar are Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of the 1984 batch with Goel belonging to the Punjab cadre and Kumar to the Assam cadre. Before replacing Anil Dhasmana as R&AW chief, Goel was heading operations for the external spy agency and was one of the officials entrusted with the planning of the 26 February Balakot air strikes and the 2016 surgical strikes which were carried out in retaliation to the Uri terror attack, The Hindustan Times reported.

According to Hindustan Times, Goel was given charge of reeling in Punjab militancy when it was at its peak in the 1990s and the IPS officer is also a known expert on Pakistan. Kumar has been closely involved in tackling left-wing extremism at the Intelligence Bureau. Before taking over from Rajiv Jain as the IB chief, Kumar held the charge as special director Kashmir with the intelligence agency.
 

weirdo01

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https://www.firstpost.com/india/key...-as-intelligence-bureau-director-6884141.html

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed Samant Goel as the next chief of the external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and Arvind Kumar as the Director of Intelligence Bureau (IB). Modi, as chairman of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, also cleared the empanelment of 1986 batch IPS officer in the rank of Director General.

#NewsAlert – New Chiefs of IB and Raw appointed. Arvind Kumar, IPS 1984 batch, to replace Rajiv Jain as the new IB director. Samant Goel, IPS 1984, to be the new RAW chief. | Input: @manojkumargupta pic.twitter.com/Khk15uff9X

— News18 (@CNNnews18) June 26, 2019

Both, Goel and Kumar are Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of the 1984 batch with Goel belonging to the Punjab cadre and Kumar to the Assam cadre. Before replacing Anil Dhasmana as R&AW chief, Goel was heading operations for the external spy agency and was one of the officials entrusted with the planning of the 26 February Balakot air strikes and the 2016 surgical strikes which were carried out in retaliation to the Uri terror attack, The Hindustan Times reported.

According to Hindustan Times, Goel was given charge of reeling in Punjab militancy when it was at its peak in the 1990s and the IPS officer is also a known expert on Pakistan. Kumar has been closely involved in tackling left-wing extremism at the Intelligence Bureau. Before taking over from Rajiv Jain as the IB chief, Kumar held the charge as special director Kashmir with the intelligence agency.
It would be a pleasant change for intelligence agencies to consist of officers from the military in greater number , cops just don't cut it.
 

jackprince

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It would be a pleasant change for intelligence agencies to consist of officers from the military in greater number , cops just don't cut it.
Military mindset most likely wont fit in with the civilian apparatus. There's a reason that emergency power with Army results in more collateral damage. The military and civilian security agency have different training that build the spyche.

However, R&AW and IB should and must be freed from IPS officers. R&AW, IB and even CRPF, BSF et al work in different environment and different threat scenario than what a ttypical police job entails. Albeit some damn good IPSes have led those forces, but that tends to be more an exception than a rule.

The R&AW has been compromised again and again in the alter of politics. I would think career spymasters would have found ways to keep their professional integrity safe and that the IPSes didn't do. BSF is full of crooks in Eastern and North-eastern border and the revolving door appointees at BSF DG had done very little to improve that. Even CRPF suffers as the decision making people at highest echelons don't know or care for the rank and file who are actually facing the troubles in ground.

Fact is, Indian bureaucracy needs a revamp where vertical growth in every rank is made easier and prioritized where people reaching the leadership of the institution knows by heart the issues of the institution and is more loyal to the interest of the function of the institution. An Assistant Commandant recruit of BSF can at the most hope to be retired as IG, if joins really young. Same with CRPF. But these Assistant Commandants are those who usually have the field knowledge what the IPSes that come to lead at Commandant level on deputation from IPS, never acquire.

It is past time India starts honoring and rewarding merit and skillset rather than some predisposed idea set by colonial era foreign rulers.
 

weirdo01

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Military mindset most likely wont fit in with the civilian apparatus. There's a reason that emergency power with Army results in more collateral damage. The military and civilian security agency have different training that build the spyche.

However, R&AW and IB should and must be freed from IPS officers. R&AW, IB and even CRPF, BSF et al work in different environment and different threat scenario than what a ttypical police job entails. Albeit some damn good IPSes have led those forces, but that tends to be more an exception than a rule.

The R&AW has been compromised again and again in the alter of politics. I would think career spymasters would have found ways to keep their professional integrity safe and that the IPSes didn't do. BSF is full of crooks in Eastern and North-eastern border and the revolving door appointees at BSF DG had done very little to improve that. Even CRPF suffers as the decision making people at highest echelons don't know or care for the rank and file who are actually facing the troubles in ground.

Fact is, Indian bureaucracy needs a revamp where vertical growth in every rank is made easier and prioritized where people reaching the leadership of the institution knows by heart the issues of the institution and is more loyal to the interest of the function of the institution. An Assistant Commandant recruit of BSF can at the most hope to be retired as IG, if joins really young. Same with CRPF. But these Assistant Commandants are those who usually have the field knowledge what the IPSes that come to lead at Commandant level on deputation from IPS, never acquire.

It is past time India starts honoring and rewarding merit and skillset rather than some predisposed idea set by colonial era foreign rulers.
Agreed intelligence agencies need a mindset very different from both the military and the police but in the meantime as a stop gap measure giving the armed forces a greater involvement in intelligence agencies is necessary and I don't agree that emergency powers result in more collateral damage when given to the army. A small example of this would be that most of the violations done in J and K we're done by paramilitary forces and the police force who started operating before the army.
 

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