File photo of U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Global challenges and intelligence-sharing mechanisms, as well as immigration and extradition, were among a host of issues discussed at the fourth conference of global intelligence and security chiefs hosted by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Sunday (March 16, 2025). The meeting had over 28 attendees, according to official sources.
The conference is usually held a day before the annual three-day Raisina Dialogue, which is scheduled this year from March 17 to 19. This year’s conference and the Dialogue are being held amid the global uncertainties caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies and the resultant ripple effects in major issues across the globe.
“The top points on the agenda were counterterrorism, Indo-Pacific cooperation, global challenges, global security and intel-sharing mechanisms, immigration and extradition, and transnational crimes, narcotics and terror funding,” an official source in the know said. Intelligence sharing on transnational crimes and counterterrorism were the key issues for India, another official said.
Around 20 countries were represented at the conference, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Russia, it was learnt. U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard attended the meeting and reportedly also held talks with Mr. Doval. She was also scheduled to speak at the Raisina Dialogue on Tuesday (March 18, 2025).
“I am Wheels Up on a multi-nation trip to the Indo-Pacific, a region I know very well having grown up as a child of the Pacific. I’ll be going to Japan, Thailand, and India, with a brief stop in France en route back to DC. Building strong relationships, understanding, and open lines of communication are vital to achieving President Trump’s objectives of peace, freedom and prosperity…,” Ms. Gabbard posted on X on March 11 before beginning her trip. She met Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month during his visit to Washington D.C.
The chiefs of the Five Eyes countries, comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., were all present, though it was not clear if a separate meeting of the Five Eyes chiefs with Mr. Doval was in the offing.
The conference is organised by the country’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) that reports to Mr. Doval. It is modelled on the lines of the annual Munich Security Conference and Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue.
The conference was held for the first time in April 2022 a day before the start of the Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship conference on “geopolitics and geo-strategy”, organised by the Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
The visit of Canadian spy chief Daniel Rogers has come as India looks to reset its with Ottawa after a deep freeze in bilateral relationship over the Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder case.
Published – March 16, 2025 10:41 pm IST