NEW DELHI — When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton landed for talks in India this week, she brought with her an entire retinue of U.S. security and intelligence officials.
And from her meetings with Indian leaders, one thing was clear: “Homeland security” is the new buzzword in U.S.-India relations.
Spurred by the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks and subsequent assaults — including bombings in that city just last week — India is rapidly overhauling its security apparatus, creating a gaping appetite for homeland security expertise and technology. That has American companies and diplomats salivating over the potential for billions in contracts and a chance to tighten ties between the world’s two largest democracies.
“We are allies in the fight against violent extremist networks, and homeland security is a high priority and a source of increasing partnership,” Clinton said Tuesday after meeting with top Indian ministers.
But so far, talk of collaboration has mostly remained just that.
Indian officials say a slew of hurdles often prevents or deters them from obtaining American security technology. But the biggest hurdle, they say, has been a lack of trust on both sides.
Stringent U.S. rules on security technology prevent Indians from importing many of the most advanced American systems. For India and other countries to gain access, U.S. laws demand that they sign agreements subjecting them to regular inspections and limiting how they use the equipment and whom they share it with.
Indians say their country is loath to relinquishing control over its most sensitive areas to a foreign power. Meanwhile, other countries, including Israel and several European nations with fewer restrictions, have leapt ahead in the burgeoning market.
“The problem is confidence on both sides,” said Amrit Pal Singh, an Indian army brigadier general who spent the past year in Washington studying U.S. homeland security. “The potential is so great, but the U.S. needs to loosen up and India needs to let go of its fears.”
Similar narratives
In many ways, the two countries are primed for collaboration.
The U.S.-India relationship has warmed over the past decade, with India transforming from a target of U.S. sanctions after its nuclear test in 1998 to one of America’s closest regional allies.
The countries have also followed a strikingly similar, if tragic, narrative. Indians call the 2008 Mumbai attacks their version of Sept. 11, 2001 — an event that exposed gaping flaws in their security systems. Much like the U.S. government before Sept. 11, India’s domestic security is sprawled over multiple agencies, badly coordinated and often working with outdated technology.
During last week’s bombings in Mumbai, for example, local authorities said their mobile communications system collapsed from sheer congestion and they had to cobble together a separate wireless system.
Even as it tries to modernize, India is facing increasing domestic threats on multiple fronts, in addition to attacks on its big cities: skirmishes in the disputed territory of Kashmir, a growing Maoist insurgency in the East and several secessionist movements.
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