Against the backdrop of an IAF official falling prey to a honey trap, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said all precautions are being taken to prevent such incidents which have so far been confined to the lower level.
"I do not think that such things (espionage) are at high level. Few things came to light but they were at lower level and we have taken all precautions (to prevent them)," he told reporters here.
"Things like honey trap are generally avoided when we are alert. We should be alert all the time.We take care of it at the time of recruitment and training. There are also clear guidelines and code of conduct (for personnel) to deal with social networking sites," he said.
Recently, a 30-year old IAF official Ranjith KK was dismissed from service and arrested for allegedly passing on official secrets to a suspected intelligence operative.
According to Delhi Police crime branch, the official had been compromised after falling prey to a honey trap set up by the suspected operative, Damini McNought, who posed as a journalist on Facebook.
Parrikar was speaking at the CISF ground near Amber to inaugurate an Army recruitment rally where he also interacted with the candidates before flagging off the rally.
Large number of candidates attended the open rally for which registrations were done online.
"We started the procedure of online application for the recruitment rally. It was feared that the number of candidates might drop but the number of candidates has gone up instead," he said.
"Indian youth is patriotic and has nationalistic mindset and therefore willing to join the Army," he said.
Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and senior officers of the Army were present on the occasion.
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When asked about the issues and concerns of honey trap, the minister said such spying techniques like honey trap and use of pigeon has been there for years.
"We should learn to counter them. Counseling, training and knowledge sharing is important. How to use Facebook, this should also be a part of training," he said.
When questioned that whether a Pakistani SIT is visiting Pathankot air base, he said, he don't know.
"I can assure (or guarantee) that without my permission no one can come. Those terrorists who came in were the last," he said.
On a security meeting yesterday, he said, "It was a general meeting on security and has nothing to do with a specific case. I know about how to take care of our bases and assists, and what are the lessons we learned from the gaps in Pathankot attack.
