Why Ajit Doval is selected again as NSA • Ajit Kumar Doval, KC, IPS (Retd) (born 20 January 1945), is the 5th and current National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. • He previously served as the Director of the Intelligence Bureau in 2004–05, after spending a decade as the head of its operation wing. • Under his supervision 2016 Indian Line of Control strike on 29th Sept, 2016 and 2019 Balakot airstrike on 26th Feb, 2019 were conducted • Doval was born in 1945 in Ghiri Banelsyun village in Pauri Garhwal in a Garhwali family in the erstwhile United Provinces, now in Uttarakhand. Doval's father, Major G N Doval, was an officer in the Indian Army. • He received his early education at the Ajmer Military School (formerly King George's Royal Indian Military School) in Ajmer, Rajasthan. • He graduated with a master's degree in economics from the University of Agra in 1967. • He was awarded an honorary doctorate for his contribution in the field of strategic and security matters, in science and literature from Agra University in December 2017 and Kumaun University in May 2018 respectively. • Doval joined the IPS in 1968 in the Kerala cadre. He was actively involved in anti-insurgency operations in Mizoram and Punjab. • Doval was one of three negotiators who negotiated the release of passengers from IC-814 in Kandahar in 1999. • Uniquely, he has the experience of being involved in the termination of all 15 hijackings of Indian Airlines aircraft from 1971–1999. • In the headquarters, he headed IB's operations wing for over a decade and was founder Chairman of the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), as well as of the Joint Task Force on Intelligence (JTFI) • During the Mizo National Front (MNF) insurgency, Doval won over six of Laldenga's seven commanders. He spent long periods of time incognito with the Mizo National Army in the Arakan in Burma and inside Chinese territory. From Mizoram, Doval went to Sikkim where he played a role during the merger of the state with India. • He was trained under M K Narayanan, the 3rd National Security Advisor of India for a brief period in counterterrorism operations. • In Punjab he was behind the rescue of Romanian diplomat Liviu Radu. He was inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1988 before Operation Black Thunder to collect critical information • Doval spent seven years in Indian High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan. He went to Kashmir in 1990 and persuaded militants (like Kuka Parray) to become counter- insurgents targeting hardline anti-India terrorists. This set the way for state elections in Jammu and Kashmir in 1996. • Doval retired in January 2005 as Director, Intelligence Bureau. In December 2009, he became the founding Director of the Vivekananda International Foundation, a public policy think tank set up by the Vivekananda Kendra. • Doval has remained actively involved in the discourse on national security in India. Besides writing editorial pieces for several leading newspapers and journals, he has delivered lectures on India's security challenges and foreign policy objectives at several renowned government and non- governmental institutions, security think-tanks in India and abroad. • In 2009 and 2011 he co-wrote two reports on "Indian Black Money Abroad In Secret Banks and Tax Havens", with others, leading in the field as a part of the task force constituted by BJP. • In recent years, he has delivered guest lectures on strategic issues at IISS, London, Capitol Hill, Washington DC, Australia-India Institute, University of Melbourne, National Defence College, New Delhi and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. • Doval has also spoken internationally at global events, citing the ever-increasing need of co-operation between the major established and emerging powers of the world • On 30 May 2014, Doval was appointed as India's fifth National Security Advisor. In June 2014, Doval played a crucial role in ensuring the secure return of 46 Indian nurses who were trapped in a hospital in Tikrit, Iraq. After family members lost all contact from these nurses, following the capture of Mosul by ISIL. • Doval, on a top secret mission flew to Iraq on 25 June 2014 to understand the position on the ground and make high-level contacts in the Iraqi government. • Although the exact circumstances of their release are unclear, on 5 July 2014, ISIL militants handed the nurses to Kurdish authorities at Erbil city and an Air India plane specially-arranged by the Indian government brought them back home to Kochi. • Along with Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Doval planned a cross-border military operation against National Socialist Council of Nagaland militants operating out of Myanmar. The mission was said to be a success with 50 militant casualties • He is widely credited for the doctrinal shift in Indian national security policy in relation to Pakistan. Switching from 'Defensive' to 'Defensive Offensive' as well as the 'Double Squeeze Strategy.’ • It was speculated that the September 2016 Indian surgical strikes in Pakistan were his brainchild, which were extremely effective in neutralizing targets hostile to India. • Doval is widely credited along with Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and Indian Ambassador to China Vijay Keshav Gokhale, for resolving Doklam Standoff through diplomatic channels and negotiations. • In October 2018, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Strategic Policy Group (SPG), which is the first tier of a three tier structure at the National Security Council and forms the nucleus of its decision-making apparatus. • After the Balakot airstrike, India and Pakistan came perilously close to firing short-range missiles at each other on February 27, 2019 according to Hindustan Times. • Doval told his US counterpart John Bolton and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over a hotline that India was prepared for the worst if any bodily harm was done to Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman held in Pakistani custody. Because of Indian and foreign efforts, Pakistan quickly released Varthaman. • On June 3, 2019 he was reappointed as NSA for 5 years and was given Union Cabinet Minister Rank • Doval was the youngest police officer to receive the Police Medal for meritorious service. • He was given the award after six years in the police. • He was later awarded the President's Police Medal. • In 1988, Doval was granted one of the highest gallantry awards, the Kirti Chakra, becoming the first police officer to receive a medal previously given only as a military honour. • The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Ajit Doval, IPS (Retired) as National Security Adviser with effect from 31.05.2019. His appointment will be co-terminus with the term of the Prime Minister or until further orders, whichever is earlier," a government order said. • “During the term of his office, he will be assigned the rank of Cabinet Minister in the Table of Precedence," the brief order said. .