ISI - Inter-Services Intelligence

The Directorate for Inter Services Intelligence (more commonly known as Inter Services Intelligence or simply by its initials ISI), is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment

Mission

Collection of information and extraction of intelligence from information: ISI obtains information critical to Pakistan's strategic interests. Both overt and covert means are adopted.

Classification of intelligence: Data is sifted through, classified as appropriate, and filed with the assistance of the computer network in ISI's headquarters in Islamabad.

Aggressive intelligence: The primary mission of ISI includes aggressive intelligence which comprises espionage, psychological warfare, subversion, sabotage.

Counter-intelligence: ISI has a dedicated section which spies against enemy's intelligence collection.

A Brief Description:

The Directorate for Inter Services Intelligence (more commonly known as Inter Services Intelligence or simply by its initials ISI), is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan. The ISI is the largest of the three intelligence service agencies of Pakistan, the others being the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence (MI).

It is the successor of the IB and MI formed after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 to coordinate and operate espionage activities for the three branches of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The ISI was established as an independent intelligence agency in 1948 in order to strengthen the sharing of military intelligence between the three branches of Pakistan's armed forces in the wake aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, which had exposed weaknesses in intelligence gathering, sharing and coordination between the Army, Air Force and Navy. From its inception, the agency is headed by an appointed 3-star general officer in the Pakistan Army, despite the officers from three branches of Pakistan Armed Forces, also served and hired in the agency. However, after the intelligence gathering and coordination failure during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee was created that is mandate to coordinate and supervise all the military exercises and operations of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

The Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army, led the appointment of the director, but the official confirmation needed from the President, with a consultation from the Prime minister. The headquarters of the ISI are situated in Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory. It is currently headed by Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, who took over as ISI's Director Generalship in September 2008.

History

After independence in 1947, two new intelligence agencies were created in Pakistan: the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Military Intelligence (MI). However, the weak performance of the MI in sharing intelligence between the Army, Naval and Air Force during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 led to the creation of the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in 1948. The ISI was structured to be manned by officers from the three main military services, and to specialize in the collection, analysis and assessment of external intelligence, either military or non-military. The ISI was the brainchild of Australian-born British Army officer, Major General R. Cawthome, then Deputy Chief of Staff in the Pakistan Army. Initially, the ISI had no role in the collection of internal intelligence, with the exception of the North-West Frontier Province and Azad Kashmir.

In the late 1950s, when Ayub Khan became the President of Pakistan, he expanded the role of ISI and MI in monitoring opposition politicians, and sustaining military rule in Pakistan. The ISI was reorganised in 1966 after intelligence failures in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, and expanded in 1969. Khan entrusted the ISI with the responsibility for the collection of internal political intelligence in East Pakistan. Later on, during the Baloch nationalist revolt in Balochistan in the mid-1970s, the ISI was tasked with performing a similar intelligence gathering operation.

The ISI lost its importance during the regime of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was very critical of its role during the 1970 general elections, which triggered off the events leading to the partition of Pakistan and emergence of Bangladesh.
After Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq seized power in July 1977 and became a Chief Martial Law Administrator of the country, the ISI was expanded by making it responsible for the collection of intelligence about the Pakistan Communist Party and various political parties such as the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The Soviet war in Afghanistan of the 1980s saw the enhancement of the covert action capabilities of the ISI by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). A special Afghan Section, the SS Directorate, was created under the command of Brigadier Mohammed Yousaf to oversee the coordination of the war. A number of officers from the ISI's Covert Action Division (Special Activities Division) received training in the United States and many covert action experts of the CIA were attached to the ISI to guide it in its operations against the Soviet troops by using the Afghan Mujahideen.

Organization

The concept was idolized by then Lieutenant-Colonel Shahid Hamid in 14 July 1948. Later, he was promoted to 2-star rank of Major-General and was appointed as Director-General of the Military Intelligence by Major-General (retired) Sikandar Mirza who was the Defense Secretary that time. He was asked to set up the organization and did so with help from Major-General Robert "Bill" Cawthome- the then Deputy Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army. As this was an Inter Services Organization, the staff consisted of officers of all three services and civilians recruited through Public Service Commission. Major-General Cawthorne was the brain behind the modern state of the ISI, who served its first Director-general from 1950 till 1959. Lieutenant Colonel Sahibzada Yaqub Ali Khan (Later 3 star general and Foreign Minister Pakistan) served in ISI as GSO-1.

The original ISI building was in Karachi on the Junction of Abdullah Haroon Road (Old Victoria Street) and Hidayatullah Road, diagonally opposite Zainab Market. Although he was requested to stay on, and was promised promotion to Major General Hamid in his job as DG ISI. Hamid he decided to leave as he wished to serve in the regular Army. He left 20 June-1950 to command 100 Brigade in Peshawar, looking after the Khayber Pass and Landi Kotal. Major-General Cawthorne was given the command of the agency, and played a vital role in ISI's modern form as of today.

ISI's headquarters are located in Islamabad and currently the head of the ISI is called the Director General who has to be a serving Lieutenant General in the Pakistan Army.[citation needed] Under the Director General, three Deputy Director Generals report directly to him and are in charge in three separate fields of the ISI which are Internal wing - dealing with counter-intelligence and political issues inside Pakistan, External wing - handling external issues, and Analysis and Foreign Relations wing

The general staff of the ISI mainly come from paramilitary forces and some specialized units from the Pakistan Army such as the some chosen people from SS Group (SSG), SSG(N), and the SS Wing.[citation needed] According to some experts the ISI is the largest intelligence agency in the world in terms of number of staff. While the total number has never been made public, experts estimate about 10,000 officers and staff members, which does not include informants and assets.

Departments

Joint Intelligence X, coordinates all the other departments in the ISI. Intelligence and information gathered from the other departments are sent to JIX which prepares and processes the information and from which prepares reports which are presented.

Joint Intelligence Bureau, responsible for gathering political intelligence. It has three subsections, one devoted entirely to operations against India.
Joint Counterintelligence Bureau, responsible for surveillance of Pakistan's diplomats and diplomatic agents abroad, along with intelligence operations in the Middle East, South Asia, China, Afghanistan and the Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union.

Joint Intelligence North, exclusively responsible for the Jammu and Kashmir region and Northern Areas.
Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous, responsible for espionage, including offensive intelligence operations, in other countries.

Joint Signal Intelligence Bureau, operates intelligence collections along the India-Pakistan border. The JSIB is the ELINT, COMINT, and SIGINT directorate that is charged to divert the attacks from the foreign non-communications electromagnetic radiations emanating from other than nuclear detonations or radioactive sources.

Joint Intelligence Technical, deals with development of science and technology to advance the Pakistan intelligence gathering. The directorate is charged to take steps against the electronic warfare attacks in Pakistan. Without any exception, officers from this divisions are reported to be engineer officers and military scientists who deal with the military promotion of science and technology. In addition, there are also separate explosives and a chemical and biological warfare sections.

SS Directorate, which monitors the terrorist group activities that operates in Pakistan against the state of Pakistan. The SS Directorate is comparable to that of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Special Activities Division, and responsible for the covert political action and paramilitary special operations.

Director Generals of the ISI

Colonel Syed Shahid Hamid 1948-1950
MGen Robert Cawthome. 1950-1959
BGen Riaz Hussain.[5] 1959 - 1966
MGen (then BGen) Mohammad Akbar Khan.[6] 1966 - 1971
LGen (then Maj Gen) Ghulam Jilani Khan. 1971 - 1978
LGen Muhammad Riaz. 1978 - 1980
LGen Akhtar Abdur Rahman. 1980 - March 1987
LGen Hamid Gul. March 1987 - May 1989
LGen (retd) Shamsur Rahman Kallu. May 1989 - August 1990
LGen Asad Durrani. August 1990 - March 1992
LGen Javed Nasir. March 1992 - May 1993
LGen Javed Ashraf Qazi. May 1993 - 1995
LGen (then Maj Gen) Naseem Rana. 1995 - October 1998
LGen Ziauddin Butt. October 1998 - October 1999
LGen Mahmud Ahmed. October 1999 - October 2001
LGen Ehsan ul Haq. October 2001 - October 2004
LGen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. October 2004 - October 2007
LGen Nadeem Taj. October 2007 - October 2008
LGen Ahmad Shuja Pasha. October 2008–19 March 2012
LGen Zaheerul Islam 19 March 2012 – Present

Headquarters

The ISI headquarters are in Abpara, on the outerlying parts of Islamabad. The complex consists of various adobe building separated by lawns and fountains. The entrance to the complex is next to a private hospital. Declan Walsh of The Guardian said that the entrance is "is suitably discreet: no sign, just a plain clothes officer packing a pistol who direct visitors through a chicane of barriers, soldiers and sniffer dogs" Walsh said that the complex "resembles a well-funded private university" and that the buildings are "neatly tended," the lawns are "smooth," and the fountains are "tinkling." He described the central building, which houses the director general's office on the top floor, as "a modern structure with a round, echoing lobby."

Join ISI - Inter Services Intelligence:

Both civilians and members of the armed forces can join the ISI. For civilians, recruitment is advertised and is jointly handled by the Federal Public Services Commission (FPSC) and civilian ISI agents are considered employees of the Ministry of Defence. The FPSC conducts various examinations testing the candidate's knowledge of current affairs, English and various analytical abilities. Based on the results, the FPSC shortlists the candidates and sends the list to the ISI who conduct the initial background checks. The selected candidates are then invited for an interview which is conducted by a joint committee comprising both ISI and FPSC officials.