Intelligence Services with the government provide ample career opportunities,
especially in the current scenario where corruption, crime and terrorist
activities rule the world.
A job with the Intelligence service is one of the most difficult professions
to enter into, as well as it is tough on the job too. As everyone knows,
the career requires hardworking and sincere candidates who are ready to
work under any given condition and circumstance. There is a constant need
for candidates in intelligence services to tackle corruption, terrorism
and other anti social elements, and there are many intelligence agencies
as well which work at different levels.
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information
gathering for purposes of national security and defense. Means of information
gathering may include spying, communication interception, cryptanalysis,
cooperation with other institutions and evaluation of public sources.
The assembly and propagation of this information is known as intelligence
analysis. Intelligence agencies can provide the following services for
their national governments like analysis in areas relevant to national
security; inform national defense planning and military operations; protect
secrets, both of their own sources and activities, and those of other
state agencies; and Intelligence agencies are also involved in defensive
activities such as counter-espionage or counter-terrorism.
An Intelligence officer can be referred to a modern-day Sherlock Holmes.
Holmes is famous for his intellectual knack and is renowned for his enormous
scope of observation, his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take
almost any disguise and his forensic science skills to solve difficult
cases. The need for contemporary versions of detective or intelligence
agencies has been increasingly felt in modern society with spiralling
crime rate especially in cities.
India has a number of intelligence agencies of which the best known are
the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency
and the Intelligence Bureau, the internal intelligence agency. The intelligence
services first took shape in British India in the 1860s and were primarily
concerned with collection, assimilation, and analysis of information.
Simultaneously, the need for a special agency to get information and subsequent
coordination of the detection and prevention of political crimes was realised.
Thus a full-fledged department known as Criminal Investigative Department
(CID) emerged. This department had two main divisions : the Special or
Security Branch and the Crime Branch. The Special Branch was responsible
for investigating into subversive political activities, movement of foreigners
etc. The Crime Branch was involved exclusively with criminal intelligence,
e.g. terrorist movements, specialised crimes like counterfeiting of currency,
economic offences and bank frauds. Over the last hundred years, the face
of the intelligence services in the country has changed considerably.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has emerged as the most important
investigative body for serious crimes from murder to match fixing.
Government of India has set up under the Department of Revenue in Union
Ministry of Finance the following agencies to fight against economic crime:
(i) The Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (Apex body), (ii) Directorate
General of Revenue Intelligence (for Customs related offences), (iii)
Directorate of Enforcement (for Foreign Exchange related offences), (iv)
Directorate General of Anti-Evasion (for Central Excise related offences),
(v) Directorate General of Income Tax (Investigation) (for Income Tax
related offences), (vi) Narcotics Control Bureau (for Drugs related offences).
Simultaneously, India has witnessed the growth of the private intelligence
service industry comprising mainly of private investigators, detectives
and security personnel.
