Ajit Doval gets 3rd term as national security advisor

NSA Ajit Doval

Ajit Doval to continue as National Security Advisor (NSA)  for the third term.  PK Mishra will also continue as the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Both Doval and Mishra worked on their respective crucial posts during the last two tenures of the governments headed by Modi. With the fresh appointment, Doval has become the first NSA to be appointed to the key post for three consecutive terms. Both Doval and Mishra will be assigned the rank of Cabinet Minister in the Table of Precedence and terms and conditions of their appointment will be notified separately, the ministry said.

Ajit Doval's appointment will be co-terminus with the term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or until further orders,  according to an official order.

"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Ajit Doval, IPS (Retired) as National Security Adviser with effect from 10.06.2024," said the order issued by the Personnel Ministry.

During the term of his office, Doval will be assigned the rank of Cabinet Minister in the Table of Precedence, it said, adding the terms and conditions of his appointment will be notified separately.

He worked with the IB for more than 33 years in different roles and in areas including the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab. He served in the United Kingdom as well. Another key officer, Mishra has held various key positions at the Centre and in the Gujarat government.

He served as Additional Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in Modi's first term as the Prime Minister from 2014 to 2019. Mishra, a 1972 batch retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Gujarat cadre, was re-appointed to the same post with effect from May 31, 2019, during Modi's second term.

He was in September 2019 appointed as the principal secretary to the PM. His term was on a co-terminus basis with Modi's tenure. Mishra had served between 2001 and 2004 as the principal secretary to Modi when he was the Gujarat chief minister.

A veteran bureaucrat, he was the secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture between December 1, 2006 and August 31, 2008. After his retirement, Mishra was appointed the chairman of the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission for a five-year term.
A 1968-batch IPS officer, Doval, known one of the best operational brains within intelligence circles, was India's main negotiator with the hijackers of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 taken to Kandahar in 1999.

After a few years in uniform, Doval had worked as an intelligence officer for over 33 years during which he had served in the Northeast, Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab.