Technology & Crime

  The 'process' in India is a living organism capable of calling meetings and setting up committees. However 'execution' (pun intended) is rare.Time is never a major factor in our decision calculus.
Starting from the Kargil conflict, our new age television media has provided rich realtime feedback to our attackers. David Headley's confession that they were able to adjust strategy dynamically based on feedback telecast live by Indian TV Channels, comes as no surprise.
In the entire scheme of things it must not be forgotten that the raison de etre for the state and the 'fourth estate' is the citizen.If the state is impeded in providing due security to its citizens, the citizens must lend their weight to get things done correctly.Till now our attackers employed only our TV and Google Earth to plan and execute their designs. Now we have effectively permitted them to use more advanced technologies to sort us out.If you dont believe me, read the news item published in national dailies yesterday. An extract is reproduced below for you to make an assessment-

Google's Street View starts mapping India

(AFP) – 

BANGALORE, India — Google launched its "Street View" project in India on Thursday aiming to collect panoramic images of the vast country ranging from its palaces to its slums.

The 360-degree photographic mapping service, which is already in operation in more than 25 countries, began gathering data in the southern city of Bangalore, a technology hub where many Internet firms are based.

Street View has proved hugely popular since its launch in the United States in 2007, but it has also run into trouble with several governments concerned about privacy.

"Street View is designed to comply with all local laws including those related to security and privacy in India," Google India chief Vinay Goel told reporters in Bangalore.

He said the programme, which allows computer users to simulate walking down streets and around corners, would be useful for "urban development planners, law enforcement agencies, house-hunters, and travellers".

Goel declined to give details about Google's plans to expand the project across India, where cities and villages are often a chaotic jumble of traffic jams, buffalo carts and shanty towns.

The company said that detailed images of Bangalore, which are being collected by special cameras mounted on cars and tricycles, would be made accessible once the data had been processed.

Google said earlier this month that it would appeal against a Swiss ruling ordering it to ensure that all people and cars pictured on Street View were unrecognisable.

France's data privacy regulator imposed a record fine of 100,000 euros ($142,000) on Google in March for collecting private information while compiling photographs for the service.

Google has also agreed to delete private emails and passwords mistakenly picked up from wireless networks in Britain by its Street View cars.

"We have got permission from Bangalore police, and are in touch with state and central governments," a Google spokeswomen told AFP. "We want to map all of the city, but anyone can complain if they are unhappy about coverage."

Street View tricycles have already collected imagery from international tourist sites including Stonehenge in Britain, Pompeii in Italy and Versailles in France.

"In India too, we are planning to collect images of important monuments and tourist spots after getting necessary sanction from the authorities," Goel said.

The terror attack in IISc Bangalore should not fade from our memory as history has a habit of repeating itself. Is Bangalore police the sole custodian for national security? Are the concerned agencies assessing the potential of this act? We sincerely hope someone is doing this job. An assurance from the Government will be helpful.

You have our full attention, Sir

JOINTMANSHIP EXPERIENCED

“I have visited nineteen countries in my career of two decades. Do you know that your Navy is interoperable with over twenty six other navies?” The dashing naval Commander from the visiting naval training squadron was not trying to impress the communications staff officer of India’s first Joint Services operational theatre Command headquarters. He was merely stating a fact to the recently posted officer to drive home the strategic nature of his service, the Indian Navy. For the next four years, the officer wished that Indian Navy were as interoperable with Indian Army and Indian Air Force as it was with the rest of the world. The conversation had occurred in July of 2004 and in December the Andaman & Nicobar Islands were struck by an unheard of earthquake intensity closely followed by a devastating tsunami now known as the Asian Tsunami of 2004. The Joint Services Command went through its first test and every problem in the hypothetical realm suddenly became real.

To its credit, the Joint Services Command rose magnificently to the occasion and reacted with speed and initiative crucial to retrieve whatever was physically feasible. Precious lives were saved as support was pushed in from the mainland from all available approaches. It was a war and the challenges were communications, coordination and logistics. It did not help that the runways were damaged, jetties were washed away, navigational aids ceased to exist and the thin telecom infrastructure washed away or submerged. Hydrographic changes made amphibious beaching risky. The magnitude of personal risk undertaken by the rescue and relief personnel cannot be assessed. It was magnificent to say the least.

This single incident brought out the absolute necessity of jointmanship ab-initio. It lent immediate focus to the goals of the nascent Command and a sense of purpose to the officers and men. It also brought out the value of common training as NDA, Sainik School, Military School, RIMC and DSSC networks helped cut military red tape to get the essentials done. It also brought out the fact that while we did get a head start for jointmanship with the establishment of Joint Services Wing, the military community failed to buildup on it till shaken by the events of OP VIJAY and introspection by the Government of the day.

Two years down the line a French naval ship, FNS Var, visited Port Blair. During the official interaction  it transpired that while the French had problems of their own, the country’s top leadership had taken an early decision to have unified tri services communications architecture under the ministry of Defence. At least their Army, Navy and Air Force could talk to each other transparently. Compare this to our own situation in the heart of the capital where our Service Headquarters talk to each other and their ministry on civil telephones. They can integrate with civil networks but not with each other. There will always be an explanation but things don’t have to be this way six decades after independence.

        During the colonial era, the Indian troops functioned in a joint environment during World War II. This may seem difficult to believe at first but if you decipher the familiar acronym ANPRC, you will realize the import of the statement. ANPRC stands for Army Navy Portable Radio Communications. A quick check on the internet will reveal that all significant armed forces have a joint family of communications equipment. We may have only started on that path largely due to the past disconnect between the services, R&D, DPSUs and the absence of an apex level specialized structure with a political mandate and oversight to unify Defence communications. With increasing UN commitment and possibility of out-of area contingencies arising in our neighbourhood, it is essential for us to identify a single network for joint operations. Once a soldier is transported to an area of operations, do we expect him to carry separate radios to talk to supporting Navy and Air Force in addition to the Land Forces radio? We require resolving this sooner than later.

        We are aware of Albert Einstein’s observation that no problem could be solved by the way which created it in the first place. I leave you for now with this interesting observation of the military thinker JCFC Fuller which we can connect with:-

“There are two main causes for this military shortsightedness- the first is the worship of traditions, and the second is our incapacity to see world forces in their true relationship.”

- JCFC Fuller

Announcement

1. The fast moving changes in the field of Govt / Defence acquisition have made the entire gamut of  Indian Govt / Defence procurement process fairly technical and complex. As brought out in various Govt / Defence-Industry fora, industry has a deficit of domain expertise in various facets which cannot be bridged quickly enough due to unavailability of right expertise. This leads to a frequent loss of business development opportunities for businesses. Serving Govt functionaries can render only limited assistance to trade due to conflict of interest. The question of probity in dealings by senior Govt officials is attracting public attention and prophylactic regulatory steps are under consideration by the Govt.


2. STRENGTH FIVE has been incubated as a flat network of domain experts experienced in Govt dealings to render advisory service to trade for effective strategy formulation and execution within the bounds of ethical practice. Towards this end this blog will endeavour to publish original articles by subject matter experts for information of its readers.The blog will comment on the various national security issues and render advice based on open source information. The security establishment concerned may or may not take cognisance, as they deem fit.The posts published in the blog would naturally be the individual perception of the author, but collectively they will contribute towards shaping a balanced view in the reader's mind.


3. Looking forward to a lasting and fruitful association.

Vikas Sharma
Blog Editor