Misconceptions and Misperceptions on Army’s ‘Intelligence Mechanism’: NA Spokesperson (Interview)

Everyone’s interest has increased since the army started homework at the local level to make its intelligence system effective. It is questionable and doubtful why the army started activating military intelligence despite the government having its own intelligence agency.

The issue of whether the military will make military intelligence effective or whether it will become a weapon for authoritarian leadership in the long run has become important. The visit of former army chief to the Supreme Court on 19 January (King Gyanendra’s conspiracy) ignoring the time / situation before the issue of running the armored vehicle with automatic weapons and the chief executive being the main opposition has raised suspicions about the current intelligence mechanism.

In this regard, EPARDAFAS.COM has talked to Spokesperson of the Nepal Army Brigadier General Santosh Ballabh Poudel about the efficiency and work of the intelligence mechanism being activated by the Army. During the meeting, Poudel clarified that there would be no contradiction in the work of other mechanisms as the army would collect information for its performance.

Dilemmas have arisen after the news about military intelligence came out in the media in the last few days. What is this topic?

The Department of Military Intelligence (DMI) is not a new, new and unique subject. This is something that every army has to do regularly for its operational readiness.

According to international practice, each country’s military is part of a regular process of monitoring known, known security threats, assessing them, conducting trend analysis, and assessing future security threats. So it seems appropriate to understand it this way.

Where does it help the regular work of the army?

Primarily, the military has a role to play in matters related to national security and the role given by the constitution.

Accurate and up-to-date information and an effective information mechanism, the extent of which and the characteristics or capabilities of which can be used to gather information, such threats can be assessed in time and pre-prepared accordingly.

Whether it’s pre-training training, pre-preparation for additional information gathering, or analyzing and prioritizing your activities, gathering information is important from a military perspective, as it will help military organizations.

What the military does is gather information in the face of long-term security challenges. While we have not been able to collect information collectively and effectively, we have seen the state suffer.

Therefore, we need to understand that the effectiveness of the army’s security apparatus is ultimately the strengthening of national security. It plays a very important and supportive role for the military organization in gathering information on issues related to national security.

There are separate bodies collecting information within our state machinery. There is a spy plant. He has been doing it for himself. And is there any contradiction between the information due to the army?

All organizations have their own constitutional obligations and the nature of their work is different. The nature of the information required in the day-to-day responsibilities of the security agencies you are trying to point out is different and the nature of the information gathering and preparation of the information required by the military for its own preparation is different.

But there is also a need for better coordination between different security agencies or different intelligence gathering mechanisms. As a result, accurate and timely information will ultimately be received by the government.

You said that the information required by the army is collected directly. But how can the state achieve this?

I do not think it is appropriate to understand how the military collects military approaches and the information it collects to meet military needs is needed in the day-to-day or routine operations of the state.

Because it is designed to deal with long-term security threats and combat intelligence, we have a small role to play in the regular process of the state as we gather information based on that relationship.

But since the military naturally assists the state, the state may seek input from the military on issues related to greater security interests or such security needs, and we may provide that.

Want to clarify some of the rumors circulating in the market?

Gathering information is one of the most important issues in today’s global environment. Information gathering is not limited to military perspectives. Nowadays, the collection of economic information is also an important part of national security.

Open source intelligence is widely used in the information gathering process. That means we can all be sources of information. But it would be a mistake to assume that this means being an informer for the whole army or for a particular organization.

We are all for information in one way or another because of our expertise which may have some dimension of security attached to it. Because of that, we can be a source of information. But not everyone is the kind of informer who is officially known as an informer in intelligence. That kind of understanding is very important. Misconceptions or misperceptions do not seem to be necessary.