This past weekend, senior representatives from roughly two dozen of the world’s top intelligence agencies met secretly on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore, according to five persons who spoke to Reuters.
The Singaporean government organizes these conferences which have been covertly held concurrently with the security summit for a number of years, they claimed. There hasn’t been any prior reporting about the meetings.
The US was represented by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines
The US was represented by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, the head of her country’s intelligence community. Despite the tensions between the two neighbors, China and India were among the other countries present.
Samant Goel, the director of India’s Research and Analysis Wing, which is in charge of gathering intelligence abroad, was also present, according to an Indian source.
“The meeting is an important fixture on the international shadow agenda,” said one person with knowledge of the discussions. “Given the range of countries involved, it is not a festival of tradecraft, but rather a way of promoting a deeper understanding of intentions and bottom lines.
“There is an unspoken code among intelligence services that they can talk when more formal and open diplomacy is harder – it is a very important factor during times of tension, and the Singapore event helps promote that.”
Due to the sensitivity of the subject, all five sources who spoke about the meetings opted not to be named.
A spokesperson for the Singapore Ministry of Defence said that while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue, “participants including senior officials from intelligence agencies also take the opportunity to meet their counterparts.”
“The Singapore Ministry of Defence may facilitate some of these bilateral or multilateral meetings,” the spokesperson said. “Participants have found such meetings held on the sidelines of the (dialogue) beneficial.”
The US Embassy in Singapore claimed to be in the dark about the meeting. Requests for feedback from the governments of China and India did not immediately receive a response.
Greater gatherings of the intelligence community are uncommon and hardly ever made public
To gather and share a wide range of intelligence, the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand operate what is known as the Five Eyes network, and their intelligence officers routinely meet.
Greater gatherings of the intelligence community are uncommon and hardly ever made public.
Although little information was made public about the precise conversations in Singapore, the individual with knowledge of the discussions said that Friday’s meetings included topics such as the Russian war in Ukraine and transnational crime. The heads of intelligence met informally on Thursday night.
One of the reports claimed that there was no Russian representative present. Volodymyr V. Havrylov, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, claimed he was not present at the intelligence meeting while at the Shangri-La Dialogue.
Another source claimed that the meeting’s atmosphere was one of cooperation and collaboration rather than hostility.
At the sizable Shangri-La Hotel, more than 600 representatives from 49 nations participated in the main security dialogue. There were three days of plenary sessions as well as private bilateral and multilateral meetings.
The keynote presentation was delivered by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and other speakers included US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, and leaders from the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Indonesia, and South Korea.
Haines was one of the recognized representatives of the US at the Shangri-La Dialogue. She responded to a query from a Chinese military officer during a discussion on cybersecurity in the main meeting by stating that international cooperation was crucial.
“It is absolutely critical, even when there is distrust, and even when you are facing in effect adversaries, that you still try to work through and cooperate on issues of mutual interest and also try to manage the potential for escalation,” she said.