Intelligence Bureau (India)

Intelligence Bureau (India)

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) (Devanāgarī: खुफिया ब्यूरो, Khufīya Bureau) is India's internal intelligence agency and reputedly the world's oldest intelligence agency. It was recast as the Central Intelligence Bureau in 1947 under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The reason for the perception may be because, in 1885, Major General Sir Charles MacGregor was appointed Quartermaster General and head of the Intelligence Department for the British Indian Army at Simla. The objective then was to monitor Russian troop deployments in Afghanistan, fearing a Russian invasion of British India through the North-West during the late 19th century.

In 1909, the Indian Political Intelligence Office was established in England in response to the development of Indian anarchist activities, which came to be called the Indian Political Intelligence (IPI) from 1921. This was a state-run surveillance and monitoring agency. The IPI was run jointly by the India Office and the Government of India and reported jointly to the Secretary of the Public and Judicial Department of the India Office, and the Director of Intelligence Bureau (DIB) in India, and maintained close contact with Scotland Yard and MI5.

The Prime Minister-headed Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has cleared the name of Syed Asif Ibrahim as head of the Intelligence Bureau. Mr. Ibrahim, who will be the first Muslim IPS officer to head the IB, will join the organisation as Officer-on-Special Duty (OSD) on December 1 and succeed Nehchal Sandhu on December 31 to head the organisation for a fixed term of two years.