US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI6545

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 006545 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2015 
TAGS: PREL, ETTC, KNNP, MNUC, IN, Indo-US, NSSP 
SUBJECT: GOI MOBILIZES TO SELL US-INDIA FRAMEWORK AND SHAPE 
PRESIDENTIAL AGENDA 
 
Classified By: Acting DCM Geoff Pyatt, Reasons 1.5 (b) (d) 
 
1. (C) In an informal conversation on August 24, Prime 
Minister's Media Adviser Sanjaya Baru told A/DCM that the PMO 
would shortly unveil an advisory task force whose job would 
be to help sell the new US-India bilateral framework and to 
develop recommendations for action between now and the 
expected visit of President Bush early in 2006.  Calling this 
idea "one of the bosses' great inspirations," Baru credited 
Prime Minister Singh with pushing the PMO team to begin 
focusing systematically on what can be accomplished in the 
US-India bilateral relationship over the next few months. 
 
2. (C) Baru confirmed reports in a Hindi daily (not yet 
picked up elsewhere) that this advisory team will be headed 
by respected strategic analyst K. Subrahmanyam.  However, 
Baru added, the group will also include experts on economic 
and military issues.  The PMO intends to review the full 
spectrum of bilateral interaction and to develop a machinery 
for winning over skeptics of the transformed US-India 
relationship. 
 
3. (C) Comment: Subrahmanyam's selection is a shrewd one, 
bringing to our bilateral agenda someone with long standing 
credentials among India's nuclear hawks who more recently has 
emerged as one of the most prolific and forceful advocates of 
a US-India partnership grounded in India's own interests. 
Subrahmanyam, for instance, led the briefing team that Baru 
brought together to background members of the Indo-US 
Parliamentary Forum before the formal debate on the PM's trip 
to Washington.  A former Secretary (Defense Production) and 
long time security analyst, Subu is the unchallenged dean of 
India's strategic commentators.  An active participant in 
Track II fora like the Aspen Strategy Group, Subrahmanyam 
knows the vocabulary of US-India relations as well as anyone 
in Delhi (helped along by his son, MEA Joint Secretary S. 
Jaishankar).  India has a long tradition of ineffective 
advisory panels that provide little more than a sinecure for 
retired officials.  But Sanjaya Baru's enthusiasm for this 
exercise and his report that the idea sprang directly from 
the PM suggests this group will be different.  In the best 
case, the Subrahmanyam panel will help to build political 
consensus for rapid progress on the steps that technocrats 
like Brau support as a means to fulfill the promise of the 
July 18 Joint Statement. 
MULFORD