RAW Explained: How India’s Intelligence Agency Works, Its History, Major Operations and Role in Operation Sindoor
India’s Research and Analysis Wing, commonly known as RAW or R&AW, has operated for more than five decades at the centre of the country’s external intelligence architecture. From its creation under legendary spymaster R. N. Kao to the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and the intelligence effort surrounding Operation Sindoor, RAW’s history is closely connected with India’s changing national-security priorities.
Unlike the military or police, an external intelligence service is designed largely to operate away from public view.
Its successes may remain secret for decades. Its failures can become politically consequential. And many operations attributed to it may never receive official confirmation.
That makes the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) one of India's most discussed, but frequently misunderstood - institutions.
Established in 1968, RAW emerged after India concluded that a dedicated foreign-intelligence capability was necessary following the security shocks of the 1960s. Its first chief, Rameshwar Nath Kao, subsequently built an organisation that would become central to India's external intelligence gathering.
More recently, attention returned to India's intelligence establishment following Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, 2025 after the Pahalgam terror attack.
The Indian government's official account describes Operation Sindoor as an intelligence-led operation, saying multi-agency intelligence confirmed nine camps that were ultimately selected for targeting. Public reporting subsequently highlighted the role of R&AW's technical-intelligence arm and officers associated with it.
But the complete intelligence story behind Operation Sindoor remains classified.
Understanding RAW therefore requires separating what is documented, what has been credibly reported, and what remains allegation or speculation.
RAW at a glance
Official name: Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW)
Established: 1968
Founder and first chief: R. N. Kao
Country: India
Principal function: External intelligence
Administrative location: Cabinet Secretariat
Head of organisation: Secretary (Research)
Current chief: Parag Jain
Primary areas: Foreign intelligence, strategic assessment and external national-security threats
What is RAW?
RAW is India's principal external intelligence organisation.
Its broad responsibility is to collect and analyse information outside India that could affect the country's national security, foreign policy and strategic interests.
This differentiates it from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), whose principal responsibilities concern domestic intelligence and internal security.
The boundary is not always absolute.
Modern security threats frequently cross borders. Terror networks may have overseas leadership and domestic networks. Cyber operations can originate abroad but affect infrastructure inside India. Foreign influence campaigns can also involve international and domestic actors simultaneously.
That requires RAW to operate within a larger Indian intelligence and national-security ecosystem.
Why was RAW created?
RAW's origins are closely connected to the geopolitical shocks India experienced during the 1960s.
Before 1968, India's Intelligence Bureau handled both domestic and external intelligence.
The 1962 war with China exposed weaknesses in India's strategic warning and intelligence capabilities.
The 1965 India-Pakistan war reinforced concerns about whether one organisation should continue handling both internal and external intelligence.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's government eventually separated the external intelligence function, leading to the establishment of the Research and Analysis Wing in 1968.
At its centre was R. N. Kao.
Former intelligence officer Vappala Balachandran has written that Kao established RAW in 1968 and headed it until 1977, recruiting people with specialised capabilities that were not readily available through conventional bureaucratic channels.
R. N. Kao: the architect of RAW
Rameshwar Nath Kao remains one of the most important figures in Indian intelligence history.
Long before RAW was established, Kao had been involved in sensitive intelligence assignments.
His experience helped him develop an organisation designed specifically for foreign intelligence rather than simply replicating the domestic responsibilities of the Intelligence Bureau.
Kao also placed considerable emphasis on relationships with foreign intelligence services.
Yet despite his influence, he remained intensely private.
That culture of secrecy became one of RAW's defining characteristics.
Unlike some Western intelligence organisations, RAW releases relatively little historical operational material into the public domain.
As a result, historians often have to reconstruct parts of its history through government archives, memoirs, interviews and accounts from former officials.
What does RAW actually do?
Popular culture tends to portray intelligence organisations through spies, assassinations, secret weapons and covert missions.
Most intelligence work is considerably less cinematic.
At its core, an external intelligence service tries to answer several questions:
What is happening outside the country?
What are foreign governments, militaries and non-state actors planning?
Could those developments threaten India?
What information does India's leadership need before making a strategic decision?
RAW's publicly understood responsibilities therefore include foreign intelligence collection, strategic assessment and monitoring external threats relevant to India's national security.
Pakistan and China have historically occupied significant attention because of geography, conflict and security competition.
But India's strategic interests now extend much farther — across the Indian Ocean, South Asia, West Asia, Central Asia and other regions.
Terrorism, proliferation, cyber threats, emerging technologies and geopolitical competition have also transformed the intelligence environment.
How does RAW collect intelligence?
No serious intelligence organisation relies on one source.
Modern intelligence is built by combining different streams of information.
HUMINT: Human Intelligence
Human intelligence comes from people.
Sources can potentially provide information about intentions, conversations, organisational structures and decisions that satellites or computers cannot directly observe.
It is also among the most sensitive intelligence disciplines because revealing a human source can put lives at risk.
SIGINT: Signals Intelligence
Signals intelligence involves information derived from communications and electronic signals.
It can help analysts understand networks, activity and communications patterns.
IMINT: Imagery Intelligence
Satellite imagery and aerial reconnaissance can reveal military deployments, infrastructure changes and activity at specific locations.
OSINT: Open-Source Intelligence
Open-source intelligence has become increasingly important.
News reports, government documents, social media, academic research, commercial satellite imagery and publicly accessible databases can collectively reveal significant information.
The challenge is no longer simply obtaining information.
It is determining which information is accurate, relevant and meaningful.
RAW vs Intelligence Bureau: what is the difference?
RAW and IB are frequently confused.
The simplest distinction is:
RAW- primarily external intelligence
IB- primarily domestic intelligence
The Intelligence Bureau focuses mainly on internal security, counter-intelligence and threats within India.
RAW concentrates primarily on foreign intelligence and external threats.
But major security events often require cooperation between multiple organisations.
A terrorist organisation operating outside India, for example, may have financing, communications or supporters inside the country.
Information therefore needs to move between foreign intelligence, domestic intelligence, military intelligence, police and other security organisations.
Operation Sindoor would later demonstrate the importance of this multi-agency approach.
RAW and the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War
The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War became one of the defining episodes of RAW's early history.
The crisis developed in East Pakistan following political turmoil and the Pakistani military crackdown in March 1971.
Millions of refugees eventually crossed into India.
India supported the Bengali liberation movement before directly entering the war in December.
Historical accounts associate RAW and R. N. Kao closely with India's intelligence activities during this period.
Archival material cited by former intelligence officer Vappala Balachandran indicates that Kao was made convenor of a high-level committee concerned with assistance to Bangladesh freedom fighters.
The war ended in December 1971 with the surrender of Pakistani forces in Dhaka and the creation of Bangladesh.
For an intelligence organisation established only three years earlier, the crisis became an early demonstration of the strategic importance of specialised foreign intelligence.
RAW's major operations: history, secrecy and mythology
Few subjects generate more speculation than alleged RAW covert operations.
Over the decades, the agency has been linked in books, journalism and statements by foreign governments to numerous intelligence and covert activities.
The difficulty is evidence.
Some episodes are supported by historical documents or accounts from former officials.
Others are based on credible reporting but remain officially unacknowledged.
Still others are allegations that cannot be independently verified.
That creates an important journalistic distinction:
Documented does not mean alleged.
Reported does not mean confirmed.
Secret does not automatically mean true.
RAW's secrecy has inevitably created an information vacuum, and that vacuum is frequently filled by mythology.
A credible history of RAW therefore needs to resist treating every dramatic story attributed to the agency as established fact.
RAW's role in Operation Sindoor
Operation Sindoor provides a much more recent example of the relationship between intelligence and military power.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025, following the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people.
The Indian government's subsequent description of the operation is significant.
It says multi-agency intelligence confirmed nine major camps that were eventually targeted and describes India's response as based on meticulous planning and an intelligence-led approach.
That establishes the importance of intelligence to Operation Sindoor.
It does not, however, establish publicly that RAW alone identified or selected all nine targets.
India's intelligence architecture includes civilian, military and technical organisations.
The exact contribution of each organisation remains largely outside the official public record.
Aviation Research Centre: the RAW connection to Operation Sindoor
Public reporting provides more information about RAW's involvement.
One organisation repeatedly mentioned is the Aviation Research Centre (ARC), a technical-intelligence component associated with R&AW.
Parag Jain headed the ARC before becoming RAW chief in July 2025.
Reporting by ThePrint said ARC played a critical role during Operation Sindoor and was responsible for gathering relevant intelligence concerning the precise locations and significance of identified targets in Pakistan.
The Indian Express also reported Jain's association with the Operation Sindoor intelligence effort when his appointment as the new R&AW chief was announced.
These reports provide a stronger basis for discussing RAW's role than simply assuming the agency was responsible for every aspect of target intelligence.
Even here, however, operational details remain sensitive.
The intelligence sources, collection methods, surveillance capabilities and precise targeting process have not been comprehensively disclosed.
Parag Jain: from ARC to RAW chief
Parag Jain became Secretary (Research), effectively the head of R&AW, on July 1, 2025, succeeding Ravi Sinha.
A 1989-batch Indian Police Service officer of the Punjab cadre, Jain had extensive intelligence experience before his appointment.
Immediately before becoming RAW chief, he headed the Aviation Research Centre.
Reporting around his appointment repeatedly highlighted his association with Operation Sindoor.
The Indian Express reported that Jain had responsibility for the Pakistan desk as well as heading ARC and described his intelligence experience across several sensitive assignments.
His elevation soon after Operation Sindoor placed unusual public attention on a position that normally receives relatively little mainstream coverage.
What Operation Sindoor tells us about modern intelligence
The significance of Operation Sindoor extends beyond RAW.
It demonstrates how contemporary military operations increasingly depend on the integration of:
human intelligence
technical intelligence
imagery
surveillance
target verification
military planning
precision weapons
real-time command systems
Intelligence does not replace military power.
It makes military power more informed.
The more precise a military operation is intended to be, the more important accurate intelligence becomes.
Wrong intelligence can mean the wrong target.
Incomplete intelligence can underestimate threats.
Outdated intelligence can make an otherwise sophisticated weapon ineffective.
That is why the government's description of Operation Sindoor as intelligence-led is significant.
RAW in the age of satellites, drones and artificial intelligence
The intelligence environment of 2026 bears little resemblance to that of 1968.
RAW was created in an era when satellites were rare, computing power was limited and communications were largely analogue.
Today, intelligence organisations operate amid enormous quantities of digital information.
Commercial satellites can photograph strategic facilities.
Drones can conduct persistent surveillance.
Smartphones generate location and communication data.
Cyber operations can penetrate networks without physically crossing borders.
Artificial intelligence can potentially help analysts process imagery, identify patterns, translate languages and detect anomalies across massive datasets.
But these technologies create new challenges too.
AI-generated deepfakes can contaminate information environments.
Cyberattacks can compromise sensitive systems.
Commercial satellite imagery means activity once visible only to governments can sometimes be examined by journalists and independent researchers.
Modern intelligence therefore increasingly depends on combining technology with something that remains much harder to automate:
human judgement.
RAW vs CIA vs Mossad
RAW is frequently compared with America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel's Mossad.
All three are associated primarily with foreign intelligence.
But simplistic rankings such as “which is the world's best intelligence agency?” are not particularly meaningful.
They operate under different legal frameworks.
They serve countries of dramatically different size and geopolitical reach.
Their budgets differ.
Their missions differ.
And their levels of public disclosure differ significantly.
The CIA releases large quantities of historical and declassified material.
RAW releases comparatively little.
Mossad also maintains considerable operational secrecy.
The better question is therefore not which organisation is “better,” but how their mandates, capabilities and strategic environments differ.
That comparison deserves a separate Updated+ explainer.
Who oversees RAW?
RAW operates within India's executive national-security structure and is administratively linked to the Cabinet Secretariat.
Its head carries the designation Secretary (Research).
Detailed information about its budget, personnel and operational activities is not routinely released publicly.
This has produced a long-running debate about intelligence oversight in India.
Intelligence organisations require secrecy.
Sources can be killed if identities are exposed.
Capabilities can become useless if adversaries learn how they operate.
Operations can collapse if details become public.
But democratic governments must also ensure powerful security institutions remain accountable.
Balancing secrecy with oversight is therefore not unique to India. It is a fundamental challenge facing intelligence systems around the world.
Why is so little publicly known about RAW?
The answer is partly the nature of intelligence itself.
Foreign intelligence organisations need to protect:
sources,
officers,
foreign partners,
technical capabilities,
collection methods,
operational plans,
and ongoing missions.
Revealing such information can compromise national-security capabilities.
This explains why an intelligence organisation cannot be assessed in the same way as an ordinary government department.
It also explains why RAW attracts so much misinformation.
When reliable information is scarce, dramatic stories spread easily.
How to read stories about RAW
When reading claims involving RAW or any intelligence organisation, four categories are useful.
Documented: Supported by official records, declassified documents or independently verifiable evidence.
Reported: Published by credible news organisations or researchers but not fully confirmed by official sources.
Alleged: A claim made by another government, source or organisation without sufficient independent confirmation.
Classified/Unknown: Information that has not entered the public record.
These categories help prevent speculation from gradually being repeated until it is treated as historical fact.
Why RAW remains important to India's national security
RAW was created because India concluded that understanding threats before they reached the battlefield was a strategic necessity.
That principle has become even more important.
India today faces a security environment involving conventional military competition, cross-border terrorism, cyber threats, drones, economic security, influence operations and rapidly developing technologies.
China is simultaneously a neighbour, major trading partner and strategic competitor.
Pakistan remains central to India's counter-terror and regional-security calculations.
India's interests also extend across the Indian Ocean, West Asia and an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific.
External intelligence therefore has a broader role than simply discovering secret military plans.
It helps political and military leaders understand intentions, capabilities, risks and possible future developments.
Operation Sindoor demonstrated this relationship particularly clearly.
India's official account says intelligence from multiple agencies confirmed the nine camps eventually selected for targeting. Public reporting subsequently connected RAW's Aviation Research Centre with important technical intelligence supporting the operation.
The full story may not become public for many years, if ever.
That is ultimately the paradox of RAW.
The organisation attracts the most attention when an operation becomes visible.
Updated+ Editorial Note
Intelligence operations are inherently secretive. Many activities attributed to the Research and Analysis Wing have never been officially confirmed. Updated+ distinguishes official information and documented historical evidence from credible reporting, allegations and speculation. India's official account describes Operation Sindoor as a multi-agency intelligence-led operation; references to specific RAW or ARC involvement are attributed where appropriate.
