Intelligence Failures

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Should we fight these terrorist at our airports?
Shouldn’t we be fighting in their dens, hideouts, operation centers, their ammunition stock piles?
How did the terrorist attack our airports with rocket launchers and bombs.. what were our agencies doing?
They have no clue where these terrorist live, plan, and train?
Why are we spending billions on these agencies when they can not find any clue about their logistic or finances?

We must redefine the role of Intelligence agencies who think they were created to interfere in the local politics. They are so swift to take action against ghaddar TV channel.. they think their task is to arrange jalsees for the political party of their liking.. These agencies have failed badly to gather information about the operational details of these terrorist in our mega cities..

A series of massive intelligence failures - thenews.com.pk

A series of massive intelligence failures

Fakhar Durrani
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
From Print Edition

ISLAMABAD: The recent attack on the Karachi airport has raised serious question on the role and capabilities of intelligence agencies as the militants have ruthlessly struck at sensitive defence installations and killed some high profile people in recent years but no comprehensive national security plan has been chalked out as yet.

The last few years have seen unending violent incidents, which claimed not only thousands of civilian lives but included several attacks on some high profile individuals as well as sensitive places in the country, including the attack on the GHQ, naval bases, airbases, airports and intelligence agencies’ regional headquarters.

The attacks on high profile individuals included two unsuccessful attacks on former president Pervez Musharraf, former premier Benazir Bhutto, former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, Lt Gen Mushtaq Baig, Major Gen (retd) Ameer Faisal Alavi, former head of the SSG, Maj Gen Sanaullah Niazi, Federal Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, Commandant Frontier Constabulary (FC) Sifwat Ghayur and many others.

The recent attack on the Karachi airport killing at least 28 people, including 10 terrorists, has once again raised question marks as who would protect and guard the strategic and sensitive installations. If we have a look at the timeline of attacks on some sensitive installations, then this presents a clear picture of our intelligence failure.

Similarly, at least 15 people, including 10 militants, were killed at the Bacha Khan International Airport on December 15, 2012 due to which the airport was shut down for 18 hours.

During the recent years, one of the major attacks by terrorists occurred on the Minhas Airbase, Kamra, on August 16, 2012. Then on May 22, 2011, the terrorists attacked the Pakistan Naval Base, Mehran, killing at least 17 people including security personnel. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan while claiming responsibility termed the attack revenge for the May 2011 US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.

On March 12, 2010, two suicide bomb attacks in Lahore Cantonment area killed at least 45 people. While breaching the security of Pakistan’s most sensitive area i.e the General Headquarters (GHQ), at least 10 terrorists dressed in army uniforms attacked the GHQ in Rawalpindi on October 10, 2009. The TTP claimed responsibility for this attack too.

Similarly, at least 10 police recruits and a civilian were killed when terrorists attacked the Manawan Police Training School in Lahore on March 30, 2009.On December 4, 2008, at least 40 people were killed when terrorists attacked the Askari Mosque in Rawalpindi Cantonment. Besides 17 children, a major general was also among those killed.

The terrorists attacked Pakistan Army’s Surgeon General Lt Gen Mushtaq Baig near the Army Headquarters in Rawalpindi on February 25, 2008.On August 21, 2008, over 70 people were killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gate of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) in Wah Cantonment.

On December 27, 2007, the two-time prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a shooting and suicide bombing in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh, killing up to 20 others and injuring many more.

Similarly, a suicide bomber struck a police checkpoint in the high security zone of Rawalpindi, less than a kilometre from President Gen Musharraf’s Camp Office, on October 30, 2007, killing seven people. The blast also destroyed the check post of Gen Tariq Majid’s residence. General Tariq was then serving as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.

The list of attacks is long. However, each time the terrorists while breaching layers of security succeeded to target key and sensitive installations, it raised many questions not only in the minds of the people of Pakistan but even the international community expressed its concerns over such terrorism incidents.

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33 organisations spending billions could not protect sensitive spot - thenews.com.pk

ISLAMABAD: Thirty-three security organisations including all the intelligence agencies, which deal with internal security, have more than 600,000 personnel that exceed the strength of Pakistan’s standing army but still terrorists have hit the Karachi airport, according to the National Internal Security Policy (NISP).

Among these outfits, only the police force in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan spends a whooping sum of Rs155 billion every year.

However, the budget of the remaining 27 organisations including the intelligence agencies was not spelt out in the NISP document prepared by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and presented in the National Assembly a few months back. It is certainly much more than this.

The NISP says there are still some 56,000 vacancies existing in the 33 organisations.

The paper notes that Pakistan is spending approximately Rs155 billion on policing every year, which recorded 76 percent-increase since 2009. Extra expenditures have also incurred on maintaining civil armed forces (CAFs) and other law enforcement agencies (LEAs) deputed for internal security purposes.

Of the 33 outfits, 26 organisations are either exclusively engaged in intelligence gathering or doing this work apart from their other assignments. The rest of seven agencies are doing only coordination or law enforcement duties.

The premier agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and Intelligence Bureau (IB) are concerned only with intelligence collection. They report to the prime minister. The job of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) is coordination, which reports to the chief executive as well.

The police of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are also doing intelligence gathering and report to the federal government.The three armed forces, army, navy and air force, have their separate intelligence agencies, which report to the Defence Ministry. So do the Maritime Security Agency and Airport Security Force.

Nine agencies, also doing intelligence gathering, report to the Interior Ministry. They include two wings of the Frontier Corps, two sections of the Rangers, Coast Guard, Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts, Islamabad Capital Territory Police, Anti-Narcotics Force and Frontier Constabulary.

The special branches and crime investigation departments of police report their intelligence information to the respective provincial governments. So does the Balochistan Levies.Besides, there are intelligence wings of Customs and Inland Revenue of the Federal Board of Revenue and railways police of Ministry of Railways.

The Khassadars working in the tribal areas are performing only law enforcement duty and report to the Ministry of State and Frontier Regions. The federal Levies that also does similar duty falls under the Interior Ministry.The border military police Dera Ghazi Khan and Chitral Border Police fall under the provincial law enforcement agencies.

The NISP document noted that on top of the internal security environment, the proverbial absence of a consolidated data bank, and poor analytical base makes the task of even more difficult for policy development in any arena. In the absence of an integrated internal security response, space between the terrorists and the terrorised is continuously shrinking besides fueling societal fault lines. The non-traditional threats, as a consequence, have also inspired insurgency of ethnic, political, economic and sectarian in nature, thus confronting the challenges of war by proxy, subversion and worsening law and order situation.

According to the document, the law enforcement capacity of the State has not always managed to succeed against the terrorists.In KP, the police were attacked in district Swat and civil armed forces were rendered ineffective in some of the tribal areas. The need for a military operation clearly underlined the inability of civil institutions to deal with the problem in these areas as well as exposed the scale of threats to internal security. In other parts of the KP, police have demonstrated some exceptional acts of bravery.

In Punjab the police have not faced a similar level of pressure primarily because of the nature of the terrain and the fact that unlike KP, it neither abuts with the tribal belt nor any borderland communities living on the peripheries of the province. However, attacks within urban centres especially have been extremely ferocious and well-organised.

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Re: Intelligence Failures

A simple question. When the US can not even defend its own embassy in Kabul or the UK its largest base in Afghanistan, what do you expect the ISI or the military to do?

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Agencies are busy with Hamid Meer and other journalists
They are busy in defeating JAng-Geo
They are busy in controlling the politicians
They are busy protecting big businesses of army
They are busy with sharing with CIA
They are much busy , having no time

For ObL , GHQ , Mehran , Kamra , Karachi airport
They are not able to protect their own offices
They are busy in serving the nation

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There is not a single major terrorist incident on US soil after 9/11. Their intelligence agencies are trying to fight the threat from where it originates. Their goal is not to secure Afghanistan.. they have been successful in defending their homeland from these kind of incidents.

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Actually yes it was. The original mandate for ISAF was to secure Afghanistan. Its in the UNSC resolutions and also in various statements by the US government.

Secondly I believe the shooting at Fort Hood counts as a terror incident correct? Or the attempted bombing at Time Square. Regardless of its failure it was a huge security lapse.

And back to the original point. The US embassy in Kabul has 4 layers of US security and Wazir Akbar Khan has 3. So the fact that the Taliban could by pass those check points and get close to NDS, ISAF bases and the rest is a huge security breach. Something the US congress has said as well.

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Don't forget they were also very busy issuing fake medical reports for the ex dictator in their medical facilities while the dictator was jogging on a treadmill..

And teaching a lesson to the ghaddar elected PM of Pakistan by carrying out a stunt show in PM secretariat..

And now all the patriotic people of Pakistan are chanting slogans for a military take over..

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Start with disbanding of ISI if NS has balls to do it. This should be his first logical reaction and action. Otherwise guys like you keep on trumpeting the failures of government without any meaningful actions. People will forget this white elephant blood sucker agency's continued failures in a very short time or divert its attention to nonsense like GEO till another disaster happens.

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magar phir bhi "Allah ke waade pe mujahid ko yaqin hay'

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No he doesn't have the balls.. We have a Punjabi joke for his situation.

A guy was telling a story about his Aba jee.. He said my Aba Jee went to a jungle and a sher (lion) appeared. The other guy asks him what did your Aba Jee do. The first guy replies.. Phir Aba jee ki karna hai.. Jo kuch karna hai, sher hi karna hai..

BTW Zardari also had a nervous break down when our own patriotic agencies were busy checking blackberry record of Mansoor Ejaz to teach a lesson to ghaddar Hussain Haqqani, then Ambassador of Pakistan in US..

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:rotfl:

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:D

That reminds me of Najam Sethi when he was asked how did Pak loose against Zimbabwe and he said Australia just lost against England in England, so wut if Pak lost against Zimbabwe.

Yea, why the hell blame intelligence for only OBL, Peshawar airport, SL team, Mehran Base, kamra base, GHQ , KHI airport attacks etc etc. It happens everywhere...

Hey, We still have few airports and a couple of bases left unattacked so just let them asleep, its all gooooooodddddd :)

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The Invasion of Pakistan - WSJ

Pakistan’s elites have spent decades fretting about an invasion from India, but it turns out they have invited their own invasion from within. By striking a Faustian bargain with the Taliban, the military and intelligence services have created a force that now attacks their own people.
The Pakistani Taliban on Monday took responsibility for the Sunday assault on the country’s largest international airport in Karachi. In six hours of fighting at least 28 people died, including the 10 attackers. “It’s just the beginning,” said Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an offspring of the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan created this Frankenstein. The military intelligence agency, ISI, funded and armed Islamist terrorists to fight India in Kashmir and then protected the Taliban to gain leverage in Afghanistan. The military has continued this double game of sheltering terrorists even as the terrorists have turned their sights on Pakistan.
The Taliban has repeatedly struck the military’s headquarters in Rawalpindi, most recently with a suicide bombing last week. In 2011 it laid siege to the navy air base in Karachi. Terror has become a fact of daily life. Also on Sunday, some 25 Shiite pilgrims were killed by Taliban militants in the western province of Baluchistan.
The Pakistani military has fought the Taliban, sometimes bravely, and in recent weeks launched airstrikes in the Taliban-controlled western tribal regions. Yet it has never attempted a serious counterinsurgency or ground campaign. The ISI provides safe haven for the Afghan Taliban and its leader Mullah Omar, probably in Quetta. The Taliban-allied Haqqani network is protected by the Pakistani state.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came into office last June looking to negotiate peace with the Taliban. He got his answer in Karachi. The Islamists want to overthrow the state and capture the country’s nuclear arsenal. Yet both a government minister and a senior military official separately on Monday suggested that “a foreign hand” (i.e., India) was behind the Karachi strike. If Pakistanis want to avoid a radical takeover, they need to end the self-delusion and plot a new strategy to defeat the terrorists they created.

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I don't think there was much of the intelligence failure. It has happened many times that intelligence agencies inform the concerned branch of govt of imminent threat but they are ignored. Just like this time.

And quoting thenews to abuse ISI is like quoting thehindu to abuse Pakistan.

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I was watching jasmeen manzoor show uss mei she read jis mei likha tha major attack on jinah air port like mehran base one.

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Two more funny statement:

  1. Siraj ul Haq - all was a drama at Karachi Airport

  2. Ch Nisar - the attack was 2 km from Karachi Airport!

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People sitting pretty in the USA without any COIN experience rarely understand the reality on the ground. But its okay you got access to the internet so you must be right :D

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This is sad, specially by your standards!
Who by the way, is chanting for a military takeover? And through all your criticism on the armed forces and ISI, has it ever occurred to you that we have civilian bodies as well, who need to play their part too? Just because our police departments are politically appointed, and dont get time off from securing the properties and lives of our dear leaders, does that mean that the army has to play the role of the police as well?

All through the PPP rule, and now during the 1 year of PMLN rule, almost every major attack has been followed by a revelation by the interior ministry that intelligence agencies had forewarned the local authorities about the attack...yet no preparation was made to prevent it by the local authorities.

Just because our civil institutions are failures doesnt mean we can pin the blame on ISI. We can blame ISI for many things, and discuss them on a variety of parameters, but there is no need to divert attention from the true culprits.

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And zafra nihari pai wala is the expert on COIN?

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My friend,

Instead of writing about low standard of my posts under each and every post I write, you seriously need to refresh your memory.

The same agencies were hell bent to make the whole nation and global media believe that they are actually very stupid and incompetent just a couple of years ago.. When Bin Laden was found in the garrison town of Abottabad, 50 meters from the largest military academy in a suspicious looking compound with 3 meter high walls with another 2 meters of barbed wires. Should I post the NYT article published a couple of month ago which suggests the involvement of these agencies to hide him?

May be the preparedness was not up to your standards.. but hats off to the deputed security at the airport who gave lives to avoid the worse scenario.

But should we really be fighting these rascals at our airports?