Singh may have a point. The book does not give out any “explosive” secret and, for most parts, describes the routine functioning of the agency. As a Joint Secretary in-charge of communications, he admits that he was never part of any operation and visited abroad twice in his three-year tenure in RAW.

His account largely pertains to observation and criticism of the agency’s functioning. For instance, he writes that releasing the transcript between Pervez Musharraf and Mohammed Aziz at the height of the Kargil war may have served a diplomatic purpose but Pakistan discovered the Islamabad-Beijing satellite link that was being tapped and the source was shut.

The other sensitive issue he deals with is the purchase of a secure communication system by the Special Protection Group. Having been associated with the technical evaluation, Singh had reservations about the customisation of the equipment by Motorola for the SPG. He has detailed the process leading up to forming a committee to look at the issue.

On a broader plane, Singh writes that there is lack of “leadership and accountability” in the agency and that some system of accountability or supervision must be put in place, pointing to cases of misuse of funds. His examples range from daily functioning of the agency to some cases of doubtful procurement.

As for leadership, he does question the commitment of top officials and gives examples of how the RAW station at Bhuj was closed for a year because of the earthquake even though none of the personnel was injured. The decision was taken just because the building had suffered damage and no one wanted to move to makeshift accommodation.

... contd.