‘IAF surgical strike details post 26/11 leaked’
7 April 2015 5:52 AM IST
A presentation was made about a surgical strike across the border by the IAF. Two days later, surveillance by India showed that Pakistan armed forces, including the PAF, had moved assets closer to the airfields of the boundary between the two countries. And, three surveillance aircrafts of Pakistan were on 24/7 watch duty – with refueling, of course. Conclusion: the presentation by and to the IAF top honchos had leaked, one key participant of the meeting said.
A clear security breach, this was brought to the notice of the then IAF chief Air Chief Marshal (retd) Fali H Major. But nothing was heard since then. An inquiry with the current senior military officials, of course, ended with assurances that these kinds of information breaches are being plugged “because the National Security Adviser (NSA) takes interest in looking into these issues. In any case, most of the leaks take place at the ministry of defence level.” But how did this leak take place? For, the chief’s conference room at Vayu Bhavan was “debugged twice that day.” There were no papers that were distributed or even prepared. No slides either. No one knows.
While this was, of course, a major leak of operational details, it is quite regular that the MoD would leak like a sieve despite the best intentions of then minister, AK Antony. The request for proposals (RFPs) would end up with potential vendors, even before they were signed by the authorised personnel. Important commercial documents, water marked for traces and obviously, of highly classified nature would get into the hands of those who lurk on the corridors of the ministry.
A clear security breach, this was brought to the notice of the then IAF chief Air Chief Marshal (retd) Fali H Major. But nothing was heard since then. An inquiry with the current senior military officials, of course, ended with assurances that these kinds of information breaches are being plugged “because the National Security Adviser (NSA) takes interest in looking into these issues. In any case, most of the leaks take place at the ministry of defence level.” But how did this leak take place? For, the chief’s conference room at Vayu Bhavan was “debugged twice that day.” There were no papers that were distributed or even prepared. No slides either. No one knows.
While this was, of course, a major leak of operational details, it is quite regular that the MoD would leak like a sieve despite the best intentions of then minister, AK Antony. The request for proposals (RFPs) would end up with potential vendors, even before they were signed by the authorised personnel. Important commercial documents, water marked for traces and obviously, of highly classified nature would get into the hands of those who lurk on the corridors of the ministry.
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