The National Security Council Secretariat has seen a series of changes in the past couple of days while also maintaining continuity.
Pavan Kapoor, Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry, has been appointed Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA).
In a significant move, Rajinder Khanna, Deputy NSA and former chief of India’s external intelligence agency Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), has been promoted as Additional NSA. There was no Additional NSA so far.
“A former R&AW chief, Mr. Khanna has been Deputy NSA (T&I) since January 2018. As in most other appointments, this signals continuity in the NSCS too,” officials said.
The appointment of Mr. Kapoor as Deputy NSA follows the recent appointment of Vikram Misri as the next Foreign Secretary from July 15. The other appointment is of T. V. Ravichandran, IPS, as the Deputy NSA in place of Mr. Khanna. He is serving as Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau.
With these changes, effectively there will be an Additional NSA in addition to three Deputy NSAs under NSA Ajit Doval, who is on his third term.
At the same time, former Border Security Force chief Pankaj Kumar continues as Deputy NSA.
With the latest changes in the MEA, all eyes are on who would fill the positions of UN Permanent Representative in New York and the Ambassador to the U.S. that are vacant at present and other important postings due to become vacant later this year.
In addition to these positions, there is also the post of Military Adviser in the NSCS, currently held by Air Marshal Sandeep Singh (retd), former Vice-Chief of the Air Force. The current Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, held the post before Air Marshal Singh.
A position of National Maritime Security Coordinator in the NSCS, reporting to the NSA, was created in early 2022. Vice-Admiral Ashok Kumar (retd), former Vice-Chief of the Navy, took over as the first NMSC in February 2022.
(With inputs from Suhasini Haidar)
