FBI, CIA to train Pakistani intelligence personnel
By Qudssia Akhlaque
ISLAMABAD, April 11: The Ministry of Interior and intelligence agencies are considering a proposal of extending their limited operational level alliance with the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to a formal arrangement where the FBI trains Pakistani investigators in modern investigation techniques, knowledgeable sources told Dawn on Thursday.
The sources said the Pakistan government was actively pursuing the possibility with the US administration.
A well-placed Interior Ministry official said Pakistan decided to take advantage of the existing cooperation with the FBI after it realised in the wake of the ongoing anti-terrorism campaign that Pakistan’s investigative machinery was simply not capable of delivering in highly sensitive law-enforcement operations.
“Pakistan was compelled for these reasons to request the FBI and CIA to provide technical assistance to the national intelligence and law-enforcement agencies,” the official said.
Interior Ministry and intelligence sources confirmed that some dozen or more FBI personnel were currently involved in anti-terrorism operations in Pakistan.
Sources involved in the collaboration say that the FBI presence is “handful” and the number of FBI personnel involved in operations within Pakistan rises and falls on the basis of need.
However, these sources admit that the role of the US intelligence agencies has “substantially increased” since the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
Well-placed sources in the Crisis Management Cell set up in the Interior Ministry made no effort to conceal the fact that FBI personnel were engaged in operations beyond their usual areas of responsibility within the US Embassy. They said FBI personnel were working in close collaboration with the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), the Ministry of Interior and the elite force of the police.
Pakistan intelligence agencies are primarily drawing on the FBI and CIA expertise in obtaining intelligence through highly sophisticated technical means. “We need support on accessing information through technical means as presently our information is still based on just human intelligence which has its limitations,” conceded a federal agency official.
A spokesman of the US Embassy, Mark Wenthworth, also confirmed that the FBI was “working closely” with the Pakistan authorities on various cases but did not specify the number of such cases.
While the US Embassy spokesman declined to comment on the composition of FBI personnel, Dawn learnt from sources in the agencies working in close cooperation with the FBI that they include experts in interrogation, linguistics, cyber crime, communications and forensic investigations.
Interior Ministry sources hinted that the US intelligence agencies’ technical assistance would continue beyond the recent countrywide crackdown on the suspected Al-Qaeda men and Taliban. Queried on the timeframe and scope of the government-FBI collaboration, a key official in an important law-enforcement agency declared: “Certainly till such a time that the campaign against terrorism reaches its logical conclusion.”
