Dhaka, June 20 -- Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

- Sun Tzu

Each morning over the breakfast table, it is customary for intelligence chiefs to brief the sitting head of government on pressing matters of national security. In Bangladesh, the heads of DGFI and NSI are usually responsible for briefing the President, Prime Minister or Chief Adviser. This role can be reinforced by the newly created position of National Security Adviser who can represent the broad spectrum of intelligence gathering.

In May, Bangladesh's Chief Adviser told his cabinet that the country was facing a war-like situation. His comment raised eyebrows. War eventually broke out on 13 June between Israel and...