The Directorate of Military Intelligence is the Intelligence arm of the Indian Army. The primary mission of military intelligence is to provide timely, relevant, accurate, and synchronized intelligence support to tactical, operational and strategic-level needs of the army. It is also conducts counter-intelligence activities to detect, identify and neutralize adversarial intelligence threats inside Indian Army.
History
The agency was set up in 1941 as part of the erstwhile British Indian Army to generate field intelligence for the army, in WW2. After Independence, M.I. was initially tasked with generating only tactical or field intelligence in all countries bordering India. However, During the mid-1990s, the organisation began playing an increasing role in countries within the subcontinent and its outer periphery.
Organisation
Approximately 3,700 military personnel assigned to intelligence duties. These personnels are trained at Military Intelligence Training School and Depot, Pune. The operational geographical mandate of the organization is set to 50 km from the border.
Activities
The agency gathered momentum in the 1990s especially after the Kargil War with Pakistan. The army had to handle the poor quality tactical intelligence provided by the Intelligence Bureau and R&AW. Hence the M.I.'s mandate was ultimately boosted. M.I. operatives moved into Tajikistan and later into Afghanistan in support of the Ahmad Shah Massoud–led Northern Alliance that overthrew the Taliban in 2001 with the aid of the US-led coalition forces in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and the subsequent War in Afghanistan. M.I. was also active in Myanmar, which nurtured insurgent groups. In 1998, a M.I. operative impersonated a Khalistani terrorist and infiltrated a gun-running Myanmar insurgent group. He led them into a death trap in the Andaman. Operation Leech, as the operation was called, marked the start of the outreach of the Indian Army to the Burmese junta in the 1990s. It also aimed to offset the expanding footprint of China on the eastern border of India. M.I. has carried out operations in Bangladesh too because of safe sanctuaries provided to insurgent groups like the United Liberation Front of Assam, the United National Liberation Front of Manipur and the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation. Within months of the Hasina government taking over in 2009, the entire leadership of the U.L.F.A. and the U.N.L.F. was handed over to Indian authorities. In January 2012, the M.I. warned Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, about a coup brewing in the Bangladeshi Army which was ultimately foiled. Since 2005, M.I. is also involved in hundreds of cross-border counter terrorism strikes across LOC, into Pakistan. Most notable being 2016 Surgical strike.
Controversies
Scandals
In 1978, the directorate was involved in the Samba spy scandal, wherein it was later found that the directorate had falsely implicated three Indian Army officers as Pakistani spies.
