Nepal to develop its own Army Intelligence Department

Kathmandu seeks to create a separate Army intelligence unit to help civilian policymakers and military leaders understand political and military trends primarily emerging from the Indian Subcontinent

New Delhi: With a strategic intent to collect, analyze and decipher details of military forces, plans, and operations of neighboring countries, Nepal has decided to soon start its own Army Intelligence Department (AID).

The Nepal government, under Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, has drafted a bill allowing Nepalese army to form an intelligence department. The decision to formulate the military intelligence unit comes close on the heels of reports indicating Kathmandu’s intelligence agencies going on shopping for espionage tools, surveillance equipment and support services to China and Russia.

The government plans to introduce AID under its wing, as PM Oli moves to amend the Nepal Army Act 2006, which envisions an ‘intelligence service’ operational with the national defense department.

Speaking to The News21, a senior government official, requesting anonymity canvassed some limitations cited by the government to the House. “With the current act, only intelligence work is permitted. There are no provisions of the intelligence units or officers. Thus, realizing that a special provision would be required in the existing law, we have decided to bring in the amendment,” the official said.

Explaining further, the official said that the primary function of the AID will be to analyze situational and actionable intelligence to help civilian policymakers and military leaders understand political and military trends firstly in the Indian subcontinent, and then beyond it.

The intelligence officers of the AID will track and trace the sources of potential regional conflict, and emerging threats to the global security environment, while providing recommendations on how best to employ information-gathering techniques and technologies.

Even with such tactical importance associated with the AID, the government’s intent to develop an espionage unit under its direct command has raised several eyebrows. Kathmandu already has a Military Intelligence Directorate (MID). The MID is led by a brigadier general, who reports to the Chief of Army Staff, and largely keeps a close eye on all external factors and circumstances involving Nepal.

The amendment to the bill would mean creating an entirely separate department with the Army. According to the provisions presented for the amendment, the AID will have a command of its own, officers recruited directly from infantry service, and would function under a new regulation signed by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Minister of Defense Ishwar Pokhrel, in attempts to rationalize the creation of AID, said that the amendment will make military intelligence activities more effective. He added that the Nepalese Army can perform its duties as envisioned in the Constitution with the formation of the AID.

The government not only seeks to create the AID but fast-track the modernization of its military espionage service as well. “It (modernizing intelligence services) is necessary to make the Army perform effectively, and be ready to face any challenges that might arise in the future,” the minister claimed.

Military use of the intelligence process is vital both in and of itself. The importance of assessing the information flow of the military intelligence process has been brought to light in recent years.  Although, the need for this assessment is not new, but for a country like Nepal, it has become more critical as both capabilities and demands have increased.