Chidambaram admits intel failure, NSA may go

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Home minister P Chidambaram's admission on Friday in Mumbai that there were intelligence and security "lapses" leading up to
the Mumbai attacks has triggered a lot of
speculation over the possibility of a top-level shake-up in India's intelligence
brass. (

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"I
agree there has been a failure on the part of security forces...undoubtedly
there had been some lapses. I will be less than truthful if I say there were no
lapses," the new home minister said.



The remark coincides with a
growing feeling among Congressmen that while political heads have rolled,
bureaucrats directly tasked with the job of fighting terror have been spared. An
influential section in Congress is lobbying for the removal of national security
advisor M K Narayanan despite indications that Prime Minister Mannmohan Singh is
reluctant to let him go.



At a briefing at the Maharashtra police
headquarters, Chidambaram also tried to calm the nerves of the terror-struck
city. "I am sorry Mumbai...I will try to improve effectiveness of security
systems and address all problems concerned. I will strain every nerve to
overcome the causes of these lapses."



In what could be a step in that
direction, Chidambaram will be attending a meeting on security at PMO on
Saturday where Narayanan will be present. On the table will be issues like a
Federal Investigative Agency, a media management plan during a terrorism crisis
and proposals to beef up coastal and river security.



Chidambaram's
confession of lapses, the first by a senior figure in government, will bring the
spotlight squarely on intelligence agencies which, faced with charges of
failure, have been engaged in a fierce blame game since the November 26 attacks.
After leaks, attributed to Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), about "tip offs" of
a LeT plot being ignored, there has been a flurry of denials.



The
attacks on the NSA seem to have damaged his standing with Congress chief Sonia
Gandhi who brought Narayanan back from retirement. But he seems to continue to
enjoy the PM's support. This is possibly because any determination of his
failure would be a reflection on the PMO itself — the same reason which
led former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to reject RSS's demand to dump his principal
secretary Brajesh Mishra.



It is not clear whether the PMO will also
stand by IB chief P C Haldar and RAW secretary Ashok Chaturvedi. There is a view
that despite the fact that both Chaturvedi and Haldar due retire at the end of
this month, there should be immediate changes to signal the government is
cracking the whip.



In Mumbai, asked of Pakistan's role in the Mumbai
carnage, Chidambaram stated there was ample evidence to "link the attack to
organisations or entities which have been responsible for terror attacks in the
past." Refusing to name any outfit — Lashkar-e-Taiba is seen as the main
suspect — Chidambaram said, "It would not be correct to name any
organisation but you can draw conclusions."

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Intel works on tiny devices for eco-technology

Some of Intel Corp.'s tiny devices could one day have a big impact on the environment.

The computer chipmaker on Friday offered reporters a glimpse of its
research into products such as chip-size sensors that monitor air
quality while riding piggyback on street-sweepers. Or cell phones that
recharge themselves with energy "scavenged" from the environment.

Don't expect them to hit the market just yet. But the ideas Intel's
Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner discussed Friday with reporters
in San Francisco show some of eco-technology's intriguing potential.

Sensing

Intel has designed tiny sensors that can continuously analyze
pollution. The company has tested a version of this technology in San
Francisco, putting the sensors in small boxes attached to
street-sweeping machines. A transmitter connected to the sensor relays
the data to whoever needs it. Distributed around the globe, these
devices could give scientists up-to-the-minute details of air quality
worldwide. "We could, in fact, litter the planet with these things,"
Rattner said. "Why can't we have these sensors on your cell phones?"

'Free' energy

Intel is developing devices that can tap the energy in the
environment around them. Sunlight is one possibility, but so are
television signals, cell phone towers and body heat. The amounts of
energy captured at any one time would be very small, so the devices
would need to act as "scavengers," storing up energy until they had
enough to perform a specific task.

Wireless Identification and Sensing Platform (WISP)

This concept merges sensing and energy scavenging. Intel is
researching sensors that would store up energy until they had enough to
run a built-in data transmitter. Again, because the amount of power
involved would be small, the transmitter would have very limited range.
But it could still be useful. Rattner gave an example of a medical
implant monitoring a patient's health and transmitting data to a doctor
by shipping that data to a cell phone near the implant.

Adaptive power

Energy demand in a computer or a data center isn't constant - it
increases or decreases depending on what tasks the gear is performing.
Intel is trying to develop processors that can follow changes in energy
demand microsecond by microsecond (one millionth of a second),
minimizing the amount of electricity lost to idling.

Source : http://www.sfgate.com/