Less than two years after independence, India found itself battered by Maoist insurgents in Telegana and growing chaos along its borders with Tibet. Even as Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru publicly advocated for staying out of Cold War politics, India’s first intelligence chief, TG Sanjeevi Pillai, was quietly despatched to Washington to expand intelligence cooperation. The pillars built in that time have helped hold up the US-India relationship, and could prove critical again.