NEW DELHI – Rajinder Khanna, a former head of the country’s externalintelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), will be the nextdeputy national security adviser, Hindustan Times has reported.
Khanna’s name was cleared by the appointments committee of the cabinet,which is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday.
The deputy NSA’s post was lying vacant since Arvind Gupta completed histhree-year tenure in August 2017.
Serving as officer on special duty (neighbourhood studies) with thenational security council (NSC) secretariat, Khanna would be employed “oncontract basis until further orders”, the order said.
Neighbourhood Studies prepares policy papers on countries includingPakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
The NSC, headed by Modi with national security adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval assecretary, is the apex body on internal and external security matters.
Before taking over as the R&AW chief in 2014, Khanna led the agency’scounter-terrorism operations. A Rajasthan cadre Indian Police Serviceofficer of the 1978 batch, Khanna joined the R&AW on deputation and waslater absorbed in the agency.
It is for the first time that both the NSA and his deputy are formerintelligence officers. Doval retired as the chief of Intelligence Bureau,India’s internal intelligence agency.