No specific threats ahead of Obama visit, says Home Secretary

NDTV

New Delhi, 29 October 2010:  With Delhi and Mumbai gearing up for President Obama’s visit, the government says that there are no specific security threats. "All arrangements are in place... we hope it will be a successful visit," said Home Secretary GK Pillai to NDTV. Pillai also elaborated on his comments yesterday - he had said, "We could say that we were disappointed that the name of David Headley was not provided, if not pre-26/11 at least post 26/11."

 

Headley visited India in 2009 as well, continuing his reconnaissance of public places that could be targeted for terror attacks.
"Intelligence-sharing has definitely improved in recent months and with the signing of the counter-terrorism security between India and US, the cooperation between India and US is far more broadbased," Pillai said.

 

Headley, a Pakistani-American, was arrested by the FBI last year and has pleaded guilty to helping plan and execute 26/11 for the Lashkar-e-Toiba. The US clarified today again that the information it had on David Headley before the 26/11 Mumbai attack was "more general and less specific."

 

Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes said, "If we had information that could have helped to prevent the attacks and pinpoint specific aspects of the attack, we would have certainly shared that too...however, after we picked up Headley, we did know a lot about 26/11."

 

In the last few weeks, both Pillai and External Affairs Minister SM Krishna have reacted to reports in American newspapers that establish that two of Headley’s three wives had warned US intelligence officials that he seemed to closely linked to Pakistani terror groups. 

 

The US has said that senior officials will now enquire whether enough was done to follow up on those leads. US Ambassador Timothy Roemer has stressed that America gave India "unprecedented access" to Headley-a team of Indian officials questioned Headley in America in June this year.