4th Conference of Global Intelligence & Security Chiefs | 18 Mar 2025

Source: TH 

Why in News? 

The National Security Advisor (NSA) of India hosted the  4th Conference of Global Intelligence and Security Chiefs which was organized by India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), along with the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). 

  • The event witnessed the participation of intelligence officials from over 20 countries including the chiefs of the Five Eyes Alliance. 

What is the Conference of Intelligence and Security Chiefs? 

  • It is a high-level annual security dialogue organized as part of the Raisina Dialogue which is organised by the Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with think-tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF). 
    • It was held for the first time in 2022. 
  • It is modeled on the lines of the annual Munich Security Conference and Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue. 
  • It is a strategic platform for intelligence and security officials to discuss emerging threats, collaborative security frameworks, and contemporary geopolitics and geo-strategies. 
  • The 2025 conference focused on counterterrorism, transnational crimes, intelligence-sharing mechanisms, immigration and extradition, along with Indo-Pacific cooperation and measures to combat terror financing and the narcotics trade.

What is Raisina Dialogue? 

Click Here to Read More: Raisina Dialogue 

What is Five Eyes Alliance? 

  • About: The Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.  
  • Formation and Evolution: Originating during World War II, the alliance emerged from UK-US cooperation in deciphering German and Japanese codes.  
    • This alliance is based on a series of secret agreements, primarily the UKUSA Agreement (1946), which facilitates extensive surveillance, intelligence collection, and data sharing among member countries. 
  • Scope of Operations: 
    • Interception, collection, analysis, and decryption of global communications. 
    • Automatic intelligence-sharing among the five countries. 
    • Integrated programs, staff, bases, and analytical processes for global surveillance. 

Five_Eyes_Alliance

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)  

Prelims: 

Q. From which one of the following did India buy the Barak anti-missile defence systems? (2008)

(a) Israel  

(b) France  

(c) Russia  

(d) USA  

Ans: (a)

Q. Recently, the USA decided to support India’s membership in multi-lateral export control regimes called the “Australia Group” and the “Wassenaar Arrangement”. What is the difference between them? (2011)

  1. The Australia Group is an informal arrangement which aims to allow exporting countries to minimize the risk of assisting chemical and biological weapons proliferation, whereas the Wassenaar Arrangement is a formal group under the OECD holding identical objectives. 
  2. The Australia Group comprises predominantly of Asian, African and North American countries whereas the member countries of Wassenaar Arrangement are predominantly from the European Union and American Continents. 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? 

(a) 1 only  

(b) 2 only  

(c) Both 1 and 2  

(d) Neither 1 nor 2  

Ans: (d)