Multi-Agency Centre (MAC)

In News 

• Recently, the Union Home Minister asked the Directors General of Police to share adequate information and actionable inputs through the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC).
  • The Centre wants the States to share more intelligence inputs through the MAC.

Why Needed?

• The continued threats of terrorism and global terror groups, terror financing, narco-terrorism, organised crime-terror nexus, illicit use of cyberspace, movement of foreign terrorist fighters are being noticed.
  • Therefore, there is a need for better coordination and synergy among the central and state security agencies in countering the ever-changing counter-terrorism and security challenges.

About Multi-Agency Centre (MAC)

• It is a common counter-terrorism grid under the Intelligence Bureau (IB) that was made operational in 2001 post-Kargil war.
• It is a nodal establishment for sharing intelligence inputs among various agencies.
• It is located in Delhi while state capitals have subsidiary MACs (SMACs) where daily meetings are held to analyse inputs received in the previous 24 hours.
• There is also a focussed group meeting of the MAC where specific information on a specific theatre is discussed where only concerned agencies participate.
• All organisations that are in any way involved in the counter-terrorism effort are a member of this centre. 
  • All the States have a subsidiary multi-agency centre (SMAC) located in all State capitals. 
• Coverage:
  • As many as 28 organisations, including the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), armed forces and State police are part of the platform and various security agencies share real-time intelligence inputs on the MAC.
  • There are around 400 secured sites connected with the MAC headquarters.
• Challenges /Issues 
  • There are several gaps in sharing critical information at the right time and the biggest challenge is how to “coordinate, create and act upon inputs gathered by various units.
    • Due to a lack of coordination, distrust amongst intelligence agencies, timely action to prevent terrorist incidents could not be taken.
  • States are often reluctant to share information on the platform. 
    • The reluctance on the part of the States was also stated in a parliamentary standing committee report in 2020.
      • It had observed that the contribution made over the years by State agencies is lower in the overall inputs that had been received at the MAC. 

Way Forward 

• The intelligence agencies should strive for increased coordination and cooperation not only at the district, state and regional level but also at the international level with friendly foreign counterparts in developing and sharing intelligence to “mitigate and nullify threats”.

Source: TH