MULTI-AGENCY CENTRE (MAC)

About:

• The funds are meant to upgrade the multi-agency centre (MAC), a common counter-terrorism grid under the IB conceptualised in 2001 after the Kargil war.
• The idea behind the MAC was to create an institutional memory on terrorism and act as a platform to analyse the information on terror-related activities.
• The MAC had the main server in Delhi which is linked to the subsidiary multi-agency centre (SMAC) under the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIBs) in all States, which further disseminates information to the intelligence branch or wing of the respective State police forces.
• Plans are now afoot to link it to the district office of the Superintendent of Police which has been pending for more than a decade now. If MAC is linked to the district SP’s office, relevant information on terror can be fed in the system leading to the expansion of terror database.
• 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 MAC.