Ajit Doval has been appointed as the National SecurityAdviser (NSA) for a second consecutive term and elevated to the rank of UnionCabinet Minister, according to a Personnel Ministry order.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved hisappointment for a five-year period with effect from May 31, 2019 and it will beco-terminus with the term of the prime minister, it said.
“During the term of his office, he will be assigned therank of Cabinet Minister,” the order said.
Doval was in May 2014 appointed as the fifth NSA in the rankof Minister of State.
He is the first National Security Adviser to get a secondterm.
Doval has been widely hailed for his contribution in thenational security domain during his last five-year tenure. He had played a keyrole during the Balakot air strike after the Pulwama terror attack and thecross-border surgical strike, officials said.
He also drew praise for his role during the 73-day stand-offbetween India and China at Doklam — situated at a tri-junction between India,China and Myanmar, they said.
Doval retired in January 2005 as the chief of IntelligenceBureau.
After a few years in uniform, he had worked as anintelligence officer for over 33 years during which he had served in theNortheast, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
Doval, a 1968-batch IPS (retired) officer, known as one ofthe best operational brains within intelligence circles, was India’s mainnegotiator with the hijackers of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 taken to Kandaharin 1999.