Amit Shah instructs intelligence agencies, heads to adopt “whole-of-government” approach to national security

New Delhi [India], July 19 (ANI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level meeting on Friday with the heads of security and law enforcement agencies to review the functioning of the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

IB is responsible for tackling security challenges in the country, in New Delhi.

The Union Home Minister, while addressing the meeting, instructed intelligence agencies and their heads to adopt a “whole-of-the-government” approach towards national security.

He stressed building greater synergy between all the agencies to dismantle the terror networks and their supporting eco-system, to address the evolving security threat scenario of the country.

Stressing the need to increase engagement in MACs, Union Minister Shah further emphasized the need to strengthen the Multi-Agency Centre to fight against terrorism and said to make MAC into a cohesive platform that brings together all the law enforcement agencies, anti-drug agencies, cyber security, and intelligence agencies, for decisive and prompt action.

Home Minister emphasized, “MAC has earned the trust of its constituents and it must continue to work 24X7 as a platform for pro-active and real-time sharing of actionable intelligence, amongst various stakeholders, including last-mile responders.”

During the meeting, the Union Home Minister also stressed on constituting a team of young, technically proficient and passionate officers drawn from all agencies involved in National Security to dismantle the terror ecosystem utilizing Big Data and AI-driven analytics and technological advancements.

He reiterated that in the face of new and emerging security challenges, we must always be one step ahead in our responses.

Home Minister also informed that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the MAC framework was poised to undergo a major technical and operational revamp to increase its reach and effectiveness. He exhorted all the stakeholders to bolster these efforts further through prompt responses and aggressive follow-up of shared inputs.

Earlier on Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday directed the agencies, police, and concerned departments under the Central and State governments to adopt “ruthless” approach towards the drug supply chain, emphasizing a commitment to prevent any drugs from entering the country and ensuring that India’s borders are not used for drug trafficking.

Shah’s directives came while chairing the 7th Apex Level Meeting of the Narco-Coordination Center (NCORD) here in the national capital in the presence of chiefs of various central and state agencies belonging to police, Narcotics Control Bureau, National Investigation Agency as well as Central Armed Police Forces.