70813, 07/10/2006 14:06, 06NEWDELHI4826, Embassy New Delhi, CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN, 06NEWDELHI4401, "VZCZCXRO4149OO RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPWDE RUEHNE #4826 1911406ZNY CCCCC ZZHO 101406Z JUL 06FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHITO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6302INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2866RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 6181RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 6188RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 9219RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 3112RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 6873RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0623RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 3567RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA 5205RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 5202RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 4648RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 2812RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 4424RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 3462RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDCRUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DCRHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HIRUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1517RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FLRUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 3814RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HIRHMFISS/HQ USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FLRUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC","C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 004826
SIPDIS
NOFORN SIPDIS
S/CT FOR NMULLA PM/PPA FOR ERUSSELL, BAVERILL, MMARKOFF
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2016 TAGS: PREL, PTER, KCIP, PINR, IN
SUBJECT: US/GOI COUNTER TERRORISM COOPERATION MAY SUFFER FROM ALLEGED SPY SCANDAL
REF: NEW DELHI 4401
Classified By: Charge Geoffrey Pyatt, for Reasons 1.5(b) and (c)
1. (C) MEA Additional Secretary (International Organizations) K.C. Singh used a July 7 meeting with the DCM to raise the recent Indian press allegations (primarily in the ""Indian Express"") that a US diplomat used our Cybersecurity Forum to recruit officers in India's National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), lamenting that this overblown episode ""will give the (Indian intelligence) agencies an excuse to be standoffish and not cooperate with the US.""
2. (C) Against this background, Singh suggested that it would be better for S/CT Ambassador Crumpton to come to India in October or November for the next US/India Counterterrorism Joint Working Group (CTJWG), rather than aiming for an earlier meeting. Singh hoped that the additional passage of time would provide a more conducive climate among Indian security services.
Comment: A Question of Prudence, Not Lack of Interest
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3. (C) We read Singh's caution on CT and cybersecurity cooperation as his exercising prudence within an Indian bureaucracy that is often riddled with RUMINT, suspicion, back-biting and fear of scandal, all the more so with near-daily articles in the mainstream press over the NSCS affair. He clearly remains committed to CT cooperation,(Reftel) as we have noted in past reporting, and raised the recent allegations more in a spirit of sorrow than anger.
PYATT
