ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

CIA vows not to be caught off guard again

If the Central Intelligence Agency missed advance signs of five nuclear tests in India, it is not about to miss again if Pakistan decides to go the same route, say members of Congress briefed by the agency. US law-makers say such tests seem likely.

"Let's hope the area will be calm. But we are all concerned,'' senate intelligence committee chairman Richard Shelby said following a two-hour closed-door briefing yesterday from CIA director George Tenet and other intelligence officials.

A high-level US delegation has arrived in Islamabad today, led by Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.

Law-makers in Washington were told that there has been a heavy increase in activity in the past few days around a known Pakistani nuclear test site, according to participants. It came as US diplomats rushed to Pakistan to urge restraint.

Key law-makers said Tenet's job probably was safe "at least for now" but that a major overhaul in the agency and its methods was needed.

Tenet and a team including intelligence experts from the state department, the National Security Agency and the military briefed house and senate intelligence panels.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report