C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 006980

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/B
STATE/PM FOR DAS KARA BUE
STATE/PM FOR MICHELE MARKOFF
DOD FOR OASD/NII TIM BLOECHL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2014
TAGS: PINR KCIP TINT PREL PGOV IN US
SUBJECT: INDO-US CYBERSECURITY FORUM: BIO NOTES FOR
DELEGATION HEADS

Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt, Reasons 1.4 (B,D).


1. (SBU) Summary: This cable includes biographic data for
Arvind Gupta, Joint Secretary, National Security Council
Secretariat (NSCS), who will lead the GOI delegation to the

SIPDIS
November 9-10 Cybersecurity Forum in Washington, and his
deputy, Commander Mukesh Saini. Unless otherwise specified,
the below information is derived from official GOI
biographies. End Summary.

Joint Secretary Gupta
--------------


2. (SBU) Arvind Gupta entered the Indian Foreign Service in

1979. His most recent posts were Moscow, London and Ankara,
and before that, he was Under Secretary and then Deputy
Secretary in the Afghanistan division of the Ministry of

SIPDIS
External Affairs (1984-89). Since September 1999, Gupta has
been working as Joint Secretary in the NSCS. He is also the
Co-Chairman of the Indo-US Cybersecurity Forum.


3. (C) According to his visa application and passport
information, among Gupta's recent official trips are the
following:

-- March-April 1995: United States
-- June 2003: Russia
-- September-October 2003: Russia and Germany
-- October 2003: Poland
-- November 2003: Russia

Gupta has also held visas for Jordan (2003) and Israel (2003)
but travel to those countries is not confirmed.


4. (C) Gupta was born on 10 July 1953 in Nurpur, Himachal
Pradesh. His wife, Purnima Malhotra Gupta, was born on 27
August 1954 in Madhya Pradesh. She works for the GOI
Planning Commission.

Deputy Director (Information Security) Saini
--------------


5. (SBU) Commander Saini, who heads the National Information
Security Coordination Cell at the NSCS, is responsible for
coordinating the activities of the National Information
Board, implementing recommendations from the Information
Security Task Force, and managing sectoral cybersecurity
officers. Saini is also a member of various joint working
groups, including the Indo-US Cyber Security Forum; the
E-Governance and Information Security JWG; the Next
Generation Internet Protocol JWG; and the Indo-Canada
Counterterrorism JWG.


6. (SBU) A serving naval officer on special assignment to
the NSCS, Saini is a specialist in communications and
electronic warfare. In the Indian Navy, Saini served in
various command and staff positions. He was Deputy
Director/Naval Signals (Telecommunications and Networking)
prior to his present appointment.


7. (SBU) Saini is a 1983 graduate of the National Defense
Academy and hold three postgraduate degrees: Master of
Science in Defense and Strategic Studies; Master of Business
Administration; and Master of Computer Applications. He is
also a graduate of the Defense Services Staff College.
MULFORD