Nepal, July 7 -- As intelligence agencies around the world harness artificial intelligence, cyber surveillance and satellite technology to counter increasingly sophisticated security threats, Nepal's political leadership remains consumed by a far more basic question: who should control the country's premier intelligence agency?

Successive governments have repeatedly shifted the National Investigation Department (NID) between the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA). Yet despite the recurring power struggle, experts say there has been little meaningful effort to modernize the agency or equip it with the legal framework, technology and financial resources needed to operate effectively in the digital era. ...