TOP ELEVEN SECRET AGENDA BETWEEN OBAMA AND SINGH

ELEVEN QUIET/SECRET ISSUES to be discussed between Dr Singh to Mr Barak Hussein Obama By R Rajagopalan NEW DELHI: Eleven major secret issues pertaining to India will be discussed between Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and President Obama on Sunday at 7RCR when they meet for a quiet dinner. Despite being a policy document, the PMO prepared it for the background purposes. These issues will also be deliberated at the Hyderabad house when these two leaders meet with officials. Recognizing that US President Barrack Obama’s visit was not aimed to achieve immediate goals, a policy brief circulated amongst top strategists and government officials by the Prime Ministers’ Office (PMO) suggests building a base for a long term India-US relation for the year 2020. The policy actually summarizes the conclusion of a study commissioned to various thin-tanks ahead of Presidential visit to apprise officials and the informal brainstorming group including National Security Adviser (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon, former NSA Brajesh Mishra during NDA rule and former ambassadors in US Naresh Chandra and K S Bajpai to sensitise key US officials during formal and informal interactions. The brief realizes that while the strategic partnership of 2005 had laid out a roadmap for the two countries in various sectors, the assessment shows that pace has been “uneven”. Significantly, Obama’s former Campaign Chief of Staff Pete Dagher recently told Indian audience candidly that India needs to lobby hard in Washington with an imaginative mix of vision and deft planning to achieve its goals. DEFENCE: On the issue of defence cooperation, the policy brief outlines that CISMO was a roadblock. While agreeing that US has long standing laws on the limits of defence transfers and India cannot demand a treatment superior to that offered by US to its military security partners such as NATO alliance, UK etc., the policy brief, howeve,r suggests that Washington should make sure that defence commerce between US and India follow along the lines of WTO members that means MFN treatment. The US should treat India in matters of defence transfers in no less favourable manner than it treats its other customers not bound by military alliance. In general if a principle of reciprocity and freedom of choice is maintained, the chances of further defence cooperation will be enhanced substantially enhanced. TERRORISM AND INTELLIGENCE SHARING: India by participating in several multilateral export control regimes such as NSG and MTCR, could contribute to the global efforts to deny terrorist outfits materials, technology and know-how needed for the development of WMD. In this process, both the US and India, however, have to overcome problems with regard to domestic constituency as well as legal provisions and rulings; geo-strategic compulsions and politic-military. The current cooperation between them, for various reasons, appears to be in the range from low uncertainty to medium uncertainty. The next decade would be a test for both the partners to reach the zenith of the cooperation of which intelligence sharing should be established as a pillar. CYBER SECURITY: The cooperation was mooted in 2002, when the India-US Cyber Security Forum was set up in the National Security Council Secretariat. It got a severe set back following an unravelling of an alleged espionage racket involving Secretariat officials incharge of Forum and a lady US embassy official. The paper calls for sharing best practices and coordinating approaches geared towards a common vision of ensuring that cyberspace remains open and free, and at the same time secure. HIGH-END TECHNOLOGY: India has taken first step of harmonizing its export control list in line with export control regimes. India and US should now seriously explore how to mange future dual use technology trade in a manner that helps global trade without affecting international security. NUCLEAR TRADE: Remedial measures can be done to allay the US industry fears over the Nuclear Civil Liability Law. A resolution of the matter to the satisfaction of both sides would require both sides to abandon their current rigid positions. If this is resolved then the way is open for substantial further nuclear cooperation between the two countries in all matters pertaining to civilian nuclear uses in future and in particular cooperating in nuclear safety and security issues, assisting new entrants to civil nuclear power in managing safely their nuclear programs etc. India with its strong and well flourishing base in nuclear research can join with US in managing future global civil nuclear programs in an imaginative manner which is equitable and non-discriminatory. PAKISTAN: Besides militancy, nuclear dynamics, war on terror and Afghanistan, for India utmost significance is the course of US aid in Pakistan. More aid to Pakistan is being promised without deriving methods aimed at appropriate use of the aid money. US administration has shown intentions to bring about a change in its aid policy towards Pakistan. Ironically, these intentions have been far from being translated into policy statements. US has been conducting AFGHANISTAN: As President Obama has already announced plans to start withdrawing forces from Afghanistan from July 2011, it may be suggested that India and United States start mutually ecognising each other's efforts for peace, stability and development in Afghanistan. More significantly, the United States must engage India more deeply in the deliberations on any future strategy for the solution of Afghan crisis. PROLIFERATION SECURITY INITIATIVE (PSI): Recognising US offer to play a role to become a regional policeman by joining the PSI to check and monitor ships, India sees missile defence as a defensive-deterrence mechanism unlike Washington which perceives it as active defence mechanism against missile Similarly, India sees the PSI as pre-emption tool targeting US adversaries, which India disapproves. Even on nuclear terrorism, India could find partnerships ineffective unless the source of proliferation and terror (read Pakistan) is adequately addressed. 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