In an intimate gathering over the weekend, top-ranking officials from nearly two dozen of the world’s leading intelligence agencies met. This meeting happened in parallel with the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.
Singapore’s government has organized these secretive meetings at a different venue alongside the main security summit for several years. However, until recently, these gatherings had remained under the radar, unreported to the public.
This clandestine meeting saw representation from various countries, including the United States and China. Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence, led the American intelligence community. Despite ongoing tensions with the United States, China and other countries from around the globe were also present at the meeting. India was confirmed to have sent a representative to the gathering, with Samant Goel, the head of the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s overseas intelligence gathering agency, in attendance.
A person who was privy to the discussions at the meeting described it as an essential part of the international covert agenda. Even though the meeting does not primarily concentrate on the techniques and procedures of espionage or tradecraft, it is nonetheless viewed as a way to promote a deeper comprehension of each participating country’s goals and non-negotiable issues.
This source underscored the importance of such meetings, stating that when formal and public diplomacy hits a roadblock, intelligence agencies often initiate dialogue to ensure communication lines remain open. In such tense periods, the gathering in Singapore plays a critical role in facilitating such communication.
However, all the sources who revealed details about this secretive meeting opted to remain anonymous due to the delicate nature of the information they were discussing. Nevertheless, a spokesperson for the Singapore Ministry of Defence did acknowledge that participants in the Shangri-La Dialogue, including high-ranking officials from intelligence agencies, seized the opportunity to hold meetings with their counterparts. The spokesperson also added that the Ministry facilitates some of these bilateral or multilateral meetings, which have proven beneficial for the parties involved.
While the US Embassy in Singapore declared it was unaware of the secretive meeting, the Chinese and Indian governments have yet to respond to requests for comments.
