It is impossible for us to vouch for the accuracy of the article that has appeared in an American magazine to the effect that the CIA placed two plutonium-powered monitoring units in the Himalayas in the sixties and that they are still there. But similar disclosures regarding the extraordinary activities of the CIA by Rolling Stone, publishers of the magazine Outside, in the past have often been found to be accurate. And in this case while at least one Congressman has felt sufficiently persuaded to write to President Carter to investigate the charge and do all that is possible to remove the monitors lest they contaminate the sources of the Ganga, the State Department has not been in a hurry to contradict it. Thus it is possible, though by no means certain, that the charge is correct. If it is, no words can be too strong to condemn the CIA. It has been guilty of a most dastardly act which can play havoc with the lives of millions of people for no one knows how long. For, according to the writer, Mr. Howard Kohn, one of the monitors has got buried in deep snow and it may not be possible to recover it. One secret attempt by the CIA in 1966 is said to have failed.
Several additional points need to be made. First, it is immaterial whether the CIA acted with or without the US president’s permission. We must hold the US administration responsible for the enormous hazard to which its intelligence agency has exposed us. Secondly, it has been demonstrated once again that the CIA does not distinguish between friends and foes and that, indeed, friendly countries are more vulnerable to its dangerous activities for the simple reason that their governments are not sufficiently vigilant. In this particular case men belonging to an Indian intelligence set-up are said to have cooperated with the CIA because they were allegedly on its pay-roll. Surely this calls for a thorough investigation by the government so that it can identify the men in question and punish them. Thirdly, it is no longer possible to dismiss either the charge – some left papers and magazines have been making it for years – that several American mountaineers and academics visiting our frontier areas are disguised CIA men or the suggestion that their entry into these regions should be banned or that at least their movements be kept under strict watch. Fourthly, in the interest of Indo-US friendship most Indians would doubtless hope that some of the things that are being said currently about the CIA’s activities in this country in recent years are not correct. But how can one be sure in the face of continuing disclosures about it? New Delhi has to be vigilant, especially because it is so well disposed towards Washington and implicit in that is the risk that the CIA may feel encouraged to step up its activities. It is notable that the two monitors are said to have been placed in the Himalayas in 1965 and in1968, that is, at a time when first Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri and then Mrs. Gandhi wanted to have the best possible relations with America. Finally, leaving aside the larger issues New Delhi cannot possibly spare any effort to establish the truth regarding the presence of nuclear monitors in the Himalayas and refuse to take the country into confidence on this issue of the greatest concern to ordinary people.