Ajit Doval: News

Ajit Kumar Doval, a retired 1968-batch IPS officer of the Kerala cadre, has been serving as the National Security Advisor (NSA) to the Indian Government since 2014. Son of Indian Army officer, Major GN Doval, he himself has served in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), reaching the pinnacle of the agency as the Director of Intelligence Bureau (DIB) during 2004-05. He is popularly known as the "James Bond" of India for his exploits as an undercover Intelligence Operative. He was involved in managing various crises ranging from insurgencies in the Northeast, Punjab, and Kashmir; Sikkim's 1975 accession to India; release of passengers from the hijacked flight IC-814 in Kandahar in 1999; to the 2017 Doklam and 2020 Ladakh India-China stand-offs. Doval played a prominent role in many strategic security operations like Operation Black Thunder II (1988), the 2016 surgical strikes and the 2019 Balakot airstrikes in Pakistan, and other counter-terrorist operations in his decades-long career in the national security sphere. Doval received the prestigious Kirti Chakra gallantry award in 1988. On May 30, 2014, Doval was appointed the NSA to the Modi government, and later in 2019, his designation was promoted to a Cabinet rank.