Foreign influence operations increasingly target legislatures and diasporas rather than military secrets. Examine with historical and contemporary examples, and suggest safeguards for India.

A foreign influence operation is a state's covert attempt to shape another country's decisions or communities. Classic espionage, by contrast, steals military secrets. A 1976 report already found foreign intelligence services in the U.S. bribing lawmakers and monitoring diasporas [1]. The real target has shifted from secrets to decision-makers and dissidents.

Historical examples

• Koreagate: the KCIA allegedly paid "huge bribes" to U.S. Congressmen to sway defence policy. This included lobbying in 1970 against the Nixon-era withdrawal of 20,000 troops from South Korea [1]. A House ethics inquiry came only in 1977–78 [3].
• Diaspora surveillance: the Shah of Iran admitted that his agents tracked Iranians living in the U.S. [1].
• Host-state lapses: the Church Committee (1975) exposed CIA, FBI and NSA abuses at home, which weakened the U.S.'s moral standing [2].

Contemporary examples

• State media: RT America's production company registered under the U.S. FARA in 2017, but only after a Justice Department demand [4].
• Transnational repression: the FBI warns that foreign governments stalk, harass and intimidate diaspora critics on U.S. soil [5].
• Democratic institutions: Canada's Hogue Commission (2025) examined interference in its federal elections and institutions. It named China the most persistent actor and also flagged India [6], so India is both a target and an accused state.

Why the shift

• Swaying a vote or silencing a critic is cheaper and easier to deny than stealing hardware.
• Registration laws catch only declared agents; covert bribers never file [4].

Safeguards for India

• Transparency: create a public register of lobbying for foreign governments, modelled on FARA [4]. It would complement FCRA 2010, which only regulates foreign funds [7].
• Parliamentary oversight: set up a standing intelligence committee on the Church Committee model [2].
• Legislator probity: require MPs to disclose foreign contacts and hospitality, and give ethics committees stronger powers.
• Diaspora protection: treat transnational repression as a security crime and apply one standard at home and abroad [5].
• Enforcement capacity: build counter-intelligence and disinformation units that can investigate, because registration alone failed to stop the KCIA [3].

From Koreagate to today's transnational repression, influence operations target a nation's will rather than its weapons. India needs layered safeguards of disclosure, oversight and enforcement that do not chill legitimate civil society. These would protect parliamentary sovereignty and the Article 19 freedoms that democracy rests on.