Intelligence failure on Tehelka serious: Fernandes

NEW DELHI, MARCH 31. The former Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, today described the Intelligence failure on tehelka issue as far more serious than the mistakes committed by various Intelligence agencies which lead to the Kargil war.

``That the Army can be compromised from within and this kind of undermining and this kind of compromises are the most dangerous as far as national security is concerned. Therefore this is far more bigger issue, which needs to be addressed now,'' he told a programme on Doordarshan.

The most worrisome aspect of the entire episode was the failure of Intelligence agencies to get to know about the tehelka investigation. Mr. Fernandes said he had raised the issue at an informal meeting of the Council of Ministers held soon after the controversy broke out. None of the Intelligence agencies including the Intelligence Bureau, which had a ``powerful presence everywhere'' and even military Intelligence, failed to anticipate the investigation.

They had failed even when homes of serving officers were invaded and the officers were taken to five star hotels. ``Even military Intelligence was unable to find out and not have a clue about what was happening, this is the most disturbing aspect of all that has happened.''

Claiming that he was a victim of a conspiracy hatched by a cartel of arms dealers and certain Opposition parties mainly the Congress, Mr. Fernandes said people, who in the last three years, had not been able to enter the Ministry of Defence had ganged up and identified an agency that could help them to create this kind of a story.

- UNI

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