ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how ISI started out as a modest collection, analysis and counter intelligence agency and then evolved into the intelligence and security empire it is today with extensive responsibilities in both policy formation and implementation. It demonstrates how ISI became a pivotal player in domestic politics and an essential tool enabling the army's dominant role in government. Pakistani Intelligence Community (PIC) provides a useful case study in how rival national intelligence agencies interrelate in a state dominated by its military establishment. The chapter examines how ISI performed providing reliable strategic warning to its masters during several crises with India. It tries to puncture the myth of ISI as a 'rogue' agency operating beyond the knowledge and consent of the national authorities. The chapter explores historical attempts at reforming ISI and how they have consistently failed to curtail the formidable domestic powers of this 'rough' agency.
