Caught a peacock with his fan of tail feathers fully extended, dancing to attarct his harem next to the 7th (?) tee box on the Delhi Golf Course with my Nokia E71 mobilephone camera. Rain was moments away, and the mating calls of this and other peacocks filled the air.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Intelligence failure - what's that?
"Intelligence failure" has become a cliche of sorts - no one is sure of what the term means and yet each time we have a law & order situation or a terrorist strike, this two-word phrase is bandied about by "experts on TV shows etc who would have one believe that while nothing in this world is or can be perfect, intelligence collection is so simple that by mere application of the right sort of effort (no one is sure what this means!), we would have perfect intelligence!
I think we need to desist from such general comments that serve no purpose. Also, I don't think anyone expects intelligence to be 100% correct *and* available 100% of the times. To presume that each and every terror strike is always preceded with accurate intelligence on place, time and participants, failing which we must conclude that there was "intelligence failure" is, to say the least absurd if not outright stupid. Intelligence failure is not the same as say, "Power failure" or "Mechanical breakdown". This is obvious. Intelligence failure is a term that should be used sparingly when an entire system of intelligence collection, collation and dissemination has grossly failed over a period of time. This has not been the case and, therefore, if we use this phrase loosely we will do gross injustice to our intelligence organizations in particular and to security agencies and the police in general.
I think we need to desist from such general comments that serve no purpose. Also, I don't think anyone expects intelligence to be 100% correct *and* available 100% of the times. To presume that each and every terror strike is always preceded with accurate intelligence on place, time and participants, failing which we must conclude that there was "intelligence failure" is, to say the least absurd if not outright stupid. Intelligence failure is not the same as say, "Power failure" or "Mechanical breakdown". This is obvious. Intelligence failure is a term that should be used sparingly when an entire system of intelligence collection, collation and dissemination has grossly failed over a period of time. This has not been the case and, therefore, if we use this phrase loosely we will do gross injustice to our intelligence organizations in particular and to security agencies and the police in general.
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