INDIA PREPARING FOR US-INDIA COUNTER-TERRORISM

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 000574 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER EFIN PINR MOPS KDEM KISL IN SUBJECT: INDIA PREPARING FOR US-INDIA COUNTER-TERRORISM JOINT WORKING GROUP NEW DELHI 00000574 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: DCM Geoffrey Pyatt, Reason 1.5 (B,D) ¶1. (S) Summary: Deputy PolCouns met on February 1st with the new Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Director for India's Counter-Terrorism Cell, Indra Mani Pandey, as well as Director (Military Affairs) Brig. AS Nundal, who is acting as a coordinator for the India-U.S. Counter-Terrorism Joint Working Group (CTJWG),scheduled to meet February 28th. India is expanding its limited resources in the MEA to engage with countries internationally on Counter-Terrorism issues, including Pakistan. Brig. Nundal told us that the Counter-Terrorism Cell will include representatives from multiple military, intelligence, and police agencies to help coordinate their efforts. He also shared with us India's proposed schedule for the February 28th CTJWG. End summary. Expanding MEA's Counter-Terrorism Office -------------- ¶2. (S) Brig. Nundal explained that India is expanding its counter-terrorism office in the MEA, including establishing a point of contact for Embassy New Delhi RSO to verify the details of terrorist arrests and incidents (a step we have requested for several years in view of difficulty confirming details of GOI terrorist arrests in a timely manner). He also explained that Director Pandey's Counter-Terrorism Cell will include representatives from several agencies, to generate cooperation among the various parts of the Indian government that work on counter-terrorism issues. He said the cell would be up and running in the next two weeks and include about four to five people at the undersecretary level. The cell will also support Assistant Secretary KC Singh in the still-to-be launched counter-terror "Joint-Mechanism" with Pakistan. Scheduling the CTJWG -------------- ¶3. (S) Brig. Nundal offered to address much of the unfinished business leftover from the last working group meeting, including discussions of information sharing and our efforts to provide Indian officials with training to combat airplane hijacking. Brig. Nundal agreed to include representatives from multiple agencies in the discussions, to ensure that we can coordinate our efforts with the Ministry of Home Affairs, intelligence agencies, and police officials at the CTJWG. He also later faxed us India's proposed schedule for the February 28th CTJWG. Beginning at 10:00 am and ending at 7:00 pm, Brig. Nundal suggested the following agenda: (1)Opening Remarks (Joint lead),(2) Review of the Situation -- South Asia (India lead),Afghanistan and Middle East (US lead),Combating Financing of Terrorism (India lead),WMD and Terrorism (US lead),Cyber-terrorism (US lead),Aviation Security (India lead),Narco-terrorism (US lead),Bio-terrorism (US lead),Political and Psychological dimensions of combat against terrorism (India lead),and finally, Steps to Promote Cooperation (US lead). Brig. Nundal also offered that representatives from Washington could meet India's Financial Intelligence Unit on the sidelines of the CTJWG to discuss India's efforts to combat the funding of terrorism. Keeping Talks Focused -------------- NEW DELHI 00000574 002.2 OF 002 ¶4. (S) Comment: Brig. Nundal has offered a robust schedule to tackle in a single day, so it may be more productive to combine or shorten the list of topics, especially those that are likely to sidetrack the discussion. The small size of Director Pandey's new counter-terrorism cell demonstrates the difficulty the MEA faces in staffing itself to manage India's growing role on the international stage. Similar to the Joint-Mechanism with Pakistan, this cell promises to help the GOI drive the direction of our counter-terrorism cooperation. It is, however, still important to engage with those who actually oversee India's intelligence and police activities. In this regard, we asked Brig. Nundal to make sure that National Security Advisor MK Narayanan's direct subordinate attends the CTJWG. We will also broach the subject, separately, of an Ambassador-level meeting with NSA Narayanan and the U.S. delegation on the sidelines of the CTJWG. End Comment. MULFORD