Top global intelligence czars to converge in India this weekend to hold crucial deliberations

Top intelligence and security officials from around the world, including US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard, will gather in the Indian capital next week for a security conclave on the margins of the Raisina Dialogue, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Gabbard will be the first high-ranking White House official to travel to India after President Donald Trump's inauguration in January. UK National Security Adviser (NSA) Jonathan Powell and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) director Daniel Rogers are also expected to attend the security conclave, the people said on condition of anonymity.

India's National Security Council Secretariat has hosted the security conclave on the margins of the Raisina Dialogue, the country's flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, since 2022. This year's edition is set to be held on March 16, a day ahead of the Raisina Dialogue.

Senior security officials from Australia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also expected to attend the security conclave, which will focus on long-standing concerns such as terrorism, transnational and financial crimes, cybersecurity and emerging technologies, as well as the conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia.

The conclave, initiated by national security adviser Ajit Doval, is seen as a useful platform for exchange of views and discussions on pressing global security concerns, the people cited above said.

This is the second foreign visit by Gabbard, who travelled to Germany for the Munich Security Conference soon after her confirmation as DNI in February. She said on social media on Tuesday that she was on a multi-nation trip to the Indo-Pacific that will take her to Japan, Thailand and India.

"Building strong relationships, understanding, and open lines of communication are vital to achieving President Trump's objectives of peace, freedom and prosperity," she said in her post, without giving details of her itinerary.

The people cited above said Gabbard is expected to arrive in India from Thailand on March 15. Many of the other intelligence and security officials are also expected to reach New Delhi the same day. Doval will hold several bilateral meetings on the margins of the security conclave, which has always been held behind closed doors.

The people said the presence of the Canadian intelligence chief could set the stage for a resumption of conversations between senior security officials of the two sides after a stormy meeting held in Singapore on October 12 last year. That meeting, which was attended by Doval, Canadian NSA Nathalie Drouin and deputy foreign minister David Morrison, was followed by another rough patch in bilateral ties, with Canada expelling six Indian diplomats, including then high commissioner Sanjay Verma.

India-Canada ties have been at their lowest point since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian government agents of being linked to the murder of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in September 2023. India rubbished the allegation and "absurd" and said Canada has never provided evidence to back up its charges.