Why Bangladesh Must Strengthen Its Counterintelligence Capabilities

Reading Time: 3 minutes In an era of shifting geopolitics and great-power competition, Bangladesh’s national security faces not only external military threats but also insidious internal vulnerabilities. Counterintelligence—the discipline of detecting, deterring, and neutralising hostile espionage, subversion, and infiltration—has become a vital pillar of defence. For Bangladesh, where national resilience is often tested by political instability and external interference, improving counterintelligence is not optional but essential. Politicisation and External Interference Bangladesh’s intelligence services have long suffered from politicisation, where loyalty to ruling parties often superseded professional merit. This has weakened institutional integrity and created blind spots that hostile actors have repeatedly exploited. The most dangerous dimension of this vulnerability has been India’s hegemonic interference, including documented penetration of Bangladesh’s intelligence apparatus. This has undermined national security by compromising decision-making, neutralising genuine intelligence efforts, and creating mistrust within state institutions. If unchecked, such influence erodes the very sovereignty of the state.