Former RAW Chief Rajinder Khanna Appointed Deputy National Security Advisor

The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has appointed Former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Rajinder Khanna as Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA).
He has been appointed without a fixed tenure and would remain at the post until further orders. In his new role, he will assist NSA Ajit Doval.

Rajinder Khanna

He is 1978-batch Research and Analysis (RAS) cadre officer. He had headed RAW from December 2014 for a fixed two-year period. He is considered as the father of counter-terrorism unit in the RAW and has led many counter-terrorism operations in the spy agency and is reportedly an expert on Pakistan and Islamic terrorism. He also has been in the forefront of seeking cooperation from intelligence agencies around the globe.
After his stint in RAW, he was appointed Officer on Special Duty (Neighbourhood Studies) in National Security Council Secretariat, the apex body on all internal and external security-related matters headed by the Prime Minister. Neighbourhood Studies prepares policy papers of neighbouring countries including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

National Security Advisor (NSA)

The NSA is the chief executive of National Security Council (NSC) and primary advisor to Prime Minister on national and international security and oversees strategic issues. It is the NSA to whom intelligence agencies such as RAW and Intelligence Bureau report, rather than directly to Prime Minister. Due to such vested powers, NSA is prominent and powerful office in the bureaucracy. NSA is assisted by a Deputy NSA.
The post was created in November 1998 by Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government. Brajesh Mishra was first to be appointed NSA of India. Since the inception of the post, all NSAs appointed belong to Indian Foreign Service (IFS) except M K Narayanan and incumbent, Ajit Doval, who belong to the Indian Police Service.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2018