Ajit Doval
5th National Security Advisor of India (born 1945)

Ajit Kumar Doval
IPS KC
Doval in 2015
5th National Security Advisor of India
Incumbent
Assumed office
30 May 2014
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded byShivshankar Menon
Director of the Intelligence Bureau
In office
31 July 2004 – 31 January 2005
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
Preceded byK. P. Singh
Succeeded byE. S. L. Narasimhan
Personal details
Born (1945-01-20) 20 January 1945 (age 80)
Ghiri Banelsyun, United Provinces, British India
(present-day Uttarakhand, India)
Spouse
Aruni Doval
​
(m. 1972)​
Children2 (including Shaurya Doval)
Residence
Alma materDr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University (MA)
National Defence College (M.Phil.)
Occupation
ProfessionBureaucrat
AwardsKirti Chakra
Police Medal
President's Police Medal

Ajit Kumar Doval KC (born 20 January 1945) is an Indian bureaucrat, spymaster and retired police officer who has been serving as the longest tenured National Security Advisor of India since 2014. Doval previously held the position of Director of the Intelligence Bureau from 2004 to 2005, after leading its operations wing for over a decade. Since 2014, Doval is serving his third consecutive five-year term as the National Security Advisor (NSA), making him the longest-serving NSA in Indian history.

A retired Indian Police Service officer from the 1968 Kerala cadre batch, Doval is recognized for his contributions to counter-terrorism and covert missions. He received the Kirti Chakra gallantry award in 1989, becoming the first police officer to receive the second-highest peacetime military honour. In 2009, he founded the Vivekananda International Foundation, a public policy think tank based in New Delhi, and served as its director until his appointment as National Security Advisor.

Early life, education and personal life

Doval was born in 1945 in Ghiri Banelsyun village in Pauri Garhwal in the erstwhile United Provinces, now in Uttarakhand.[1][2] He is the son of GN Doval and Indra Doval.[3] Doval's father, Major Gunanand Doval, was an officer in the Indian Army.[4][5] He served in the Bengal Sappers for 36 years.[4]

He received his early education at the Ajmer Military School in Ajmer, Rajasthan.[6] Doval graduated with a bachelor's and master's degree in economics from Agra University in 1967.[7][8] The following year Doval cleared the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination.[9] He went on to graduate from the National Defence College, New Delhi.[10]

He married Aruni Doval in 1972 and has two children Shaurya and Vivek Doval.[8]

During a dialouge in January 2026 Doval was asked a question about how he uses communication tools, he elaborated that he largely does not use the internet for work, and the phone only for family and when speaking to people abroad. He stated that there were also other methods of communication not used by the general public.[11][12]

He does not have a social media account.[13] He is fluent in urdu.[14]

Police and intelligence career (1968–2005)

Doval joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1968 in the Kerala cadre as the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Kottayam district in Kerala.[15][16][17] Doval worked in Thalassery, Kerala, for a few months in 1972, before joining the central service, the Intelligence Bureau (IB).[18] His government job in the IB largely saw him as a typical undercover officer.[19]

He has the experience of being involved in the termination of all 15 hijackings of Indian Airlines aircraft from 1971 to 1999,[20][21][22][page needed] a notable instance was the 1999 hijacked aeroplane IC-814.[23][24][25] Years later Doval would go on to say the negotiation was a diplomatic failure.[26]

He played a role in intelligence for Sikkim's merger with India.[24][27]

Working undercover in Pakistan in the 1980s as a beggar, he collected hair from scientists from a barber shop; this hair tested positive for signs of uranium, helping to expose Pakistan's nuclear programme.[28][29] He worked at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad for six years from 1983 to 1987.[30][31] Officially he was head of the commercial section.[32] His undercover roles in Pakistan would allow him to visit mosques for prayers and make friends through which he could gather relevant information.[21] To fit the role, he had to get plastic surgery done on his pierced ears.[21][33]

In northeast India he had a role in the Mizoram Peace Accord of 1986.[34] Doval spent five years, mostly undercover, in Aizawl.[19] He was the man behind turning six of seven of Laldenga's commanders.[19]

In 1988 during Operation Black Thunder, he infiltrated the Golden temple posing as a Pakistani agent disguised as a rickshaw puller and spied on Khalistani separatists, gathered information about their weapons and made maps of their positions.[14][35][36] He would go on to receive the Kirti Chakra for his role in the operation.[36][37] Insurgency in Punjab would keep him occupied for nearly a decade.[32]

In 1991 he headed the operation to rescue a captured Romanian diplomat from four Sikh militant groups including Bhindranwale Tiger Force.[38][39] In the 1990s he also turned militant Kuka Parray.[40][41] He also helped bring other Kashmiri separatists to the negotiating table.[22]

He was trained under M. K. Narayanan, the third National Security Advisor of India for a brief period in counterterrorism operations.[32][22]

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).[36][39][22][1]

Doval was later appointed director of the Intelligence Bureau.[40][42] He culminated his IB career as Director from July 2004 until his retirement on 31 January 2005, succeeding another career intelligence officer amid the transition to the Manmohan Singh administration. In this apex position, ranked equivalent to a Secretary to the Government of India, his directorial stint though brief at under seven months, prioritized institutional strengthening over partisan alignments, as evidenced by sustained operational continuity post-retirement.[43] In 2004 Doval was made president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police for Asia and Pacific region.[10][44]

Post-retirement (2005–2014)

Doval retired in January 2005 as Director, Intelligence Bureau.[45] He continued working unofficially.[40]

In July 2005, Doval was briefly detained by Mumbai Police alongside Vicky Malhotra and Farid Tanasha, two members of Chhota Rajan's gang. Doval had been working on a secret plan to kill Dawood Ibrahim in Dubai where he was attending his daughter's wedding. Mumbai Police were unaware of Doval's involvement of the plot as they had gone in to arrest the two gangsters.[46][47]

In December 2009, he became the founding Director of the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), a public policy think tank set up by the Vivekananda Kendra.[48][49] Doval has remained actively involved in the discourse on national security in India.[50][51] 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.[52][53]

In 2009 and 2012 he co-wrote two reports on "Indian Black Money Abroad in Secret Banks and Tax Havens",[54] with others, leading in the field as a part of the task force constituted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[55]

In 2012, IB kept eyes on him due to then ruling party Congress's suspicions that Doval and his think tank VIF were the brains behind Ramdev and Anna Hazare led anti-corruption movement, which generated anger against the government.[56]

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.[57] 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.[58]

During the tenth Nani Palkhivala Memorial lecture in February 2014, when talking about how to tackle Pakistan, he stated three postures- defensive, defensive-offence, and offensive. Doval said that India had so far been defensive and that it was time to turn to a defensive-offensive stance.[19][59] He rules out an offensive strategy as that could lead to the nuclear threshold being crossed.[19][59][60] During the lecture he stated that if another attack like Mumbai 26/11 happened, Pakistan may be split.[61][59]

On being named the NSA, he stepped down from his post as director of VIF in 2014.[19]

National Security Advisor (2014–present)

NSA Doval meets with United States Secretary of state John Kerry in Washington DC.

On 30 May 2014, Doval was appointed as India's fifth National Security Advisor (NSA).[62]

He was appointed as the Prime Minister's special envoy to Afghanistan.[14]

In June 2014, Doval facilitated the return of 46 Indian nurses who were trapped in a hospital in Tikrit, Iraq, following the capture of Mosul by ISIL. Doval, flew to Iraq on 25 June 2014 to understand the position on the ground and make high-level contacts in the Iraqi government.[63] 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.[64]

Along with Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Doval planned a cross-border military operation against National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) separatists operating out of Myanmar. Indian officials claimed that the mission was a success and 20–38 separatists belonging to Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) were killed in the operation.[65][66][67][68] However, the Myanmar government denied the strikes. According to Myanmar officials, the Indian operation against NSCN-K took place entirely on the Indian side of the border.[69][70]

Indian PM Modi with the NSA Doval, the Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag and the Air Force Chief Arup Raha at Pathankot Airbase.

He is widely credited for the doctrinal shift in Indian national security policy in relation to Pakistan.[71] It was speculated that the September 2016 Indian strikes in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir were his brainchild.[72][73][74][75] Doval is widely credited along with then Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and Indian Ambassador to China Vijay Keshav Gokhale, for resolving the Doklam standoff through diplomatic channels and negotiations.[76][77][78] As NSA, Doval is also the special representative responsible for the Special Representative mechanism on the India–China boundary question.[14][79]

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.[80]

After a Pakistan based militant attacked a CRPF convoy with a car bomb in Pulwama which resulted in the deaths of 40 CRPF personnel, the Indian Air Force conducted an airstrike on terrorist bases in Pakistan [81] Doval was one of the seven persons who knew about India's classified 2019 Balakot airstrike, including Indian Navy, Army, Airforce chiefs and prime minister Narendra Modi. Following the airstrike and retaliatory 2019 Jammu and Kashmir airstrikes and subsequent capture of Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman by Pakistani military, Ajit Doval held talks with US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to secure the release of the Indian pilot.[82][83]

On 3 June 2019, he was reappointed as NSA for another 5 years and granted the personal rank of a Cabinet Minister.[84] Doval is the first NSA to hold such a rank. He is widely considered to be one of Modi's most powerful and trusted advisors, with major influence over India's national security and foreign affairs.[85] He would go onto become India's longest serving NSA.[86]

NSA Doval, along with Army, Navy, and Air Force Chief meeting PM Modi
NSA Doval, along with Army, Navy, and Air Force Chief meeting PM Modi

He was also an instrumental figure in revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.[87]

On 26 February 2020, Ajit Doval walked the streets of riot-hit northeast Delhi to assess the situation and reassure the local residents.[88]

On 15 May 2020, the military forces of Myanmar handed over a group of 22 militant leaders, active in Assam and other northeast states, to the Indian government. This was made possible through negotiations headed by Doval.[89][90]

On 15 September 2020, Doval walked out of a virtual SCO meeting after Pakistan projected a fictitious map omitting parts of India.[91]

On 13 June 2024, Ajit Doval was granted third five-year extension for his tenure as National Security Advisor of India.[92] Doval will hold the post as long as Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister, or until futher orders.[92]

In the 2025 India–Pakistan conflict following the Pahalgam terror attack, NSA Ajit Doval played a key role in formulating India's strategic response. He coordinated Operation Sindoor, a series of precision airstrikes on terrorist camps located in Pakistan. Indian officials described the operation as "measured and non-escalatory," aimed at neutralizing terrorist threats without provoking a broader conflict.[93][94][95][96][97]


Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue (2026)

On January 10, 2026, while serving as National Security Adviser, Doval addressed 3,000 youth delegates at the opening ceremony of the "Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue" at Bharat Mandapam. The address was noted for its departure from the traditional scholarly focus on documenting years of loot and historical trauma—exemplified by works such as Shashi Tharoor's An Era of Darkness—moving instead toward a proactive stance that framed national reconstruction as a form of civilizational "revenge."[98]Reflecting on the need to compensate for this historical damage, Doval stated:

We were a progressive society. We did not attack other civilisations or their temples, but since we were not self-aware when it came to security, history taught us a lesson. Countless people lost their lives. Our temples were destroyed, villages were looted, and our civilisation was crushed, while we remained helplessly mute spectators. History challenges us. Today’s youth has that fire. Although revenge is not a good word, it is powerful. We must avenge for our country by rebuilding a great Bharat based on our values.

— Ajit Doval, Addressing the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue[99][100]

To contextualize the economic decline during this period, scholars often cite Angus Maddison's seminal work, The World Economy: Historical Statistics, which estimates that India held the world's largest share of global GDP (nearly 30%) in the 1st millennium before its subsequent decline.

He further warned that "it is important that we remember that lesson because if the youth forget it, then it would be tragic for the country," and offered the following advice on performance and character:

No message is more powerful than performance. Innovate and achieve silently. Propaganda cannot deliver the message, only what you do gets it across. Remember that all courageous people are patient, all cowards are impatient and noisy. [101]

Awards and recognitions

"Shri Ajit Kumar Doval was given several sensitive assignments directed against certain hard core terrorists. These assignments required a high degree of courage and dedication. It also put his personal security in peril. Regardless of the risk to his personal safety, Shri Doval prepared and executed plans against terrorists with a high degree of success bringing glory to his organization. During these assignments, there were long periods during which his whereabouts were not known which even caused concern that he has been caught and possibly tortured.

In one such assignment, he was required to deal with a group of terrorists, some of whom were considered notorious and dangerous. Dealing with them posed a grave danger to his own life. Ignoring the risk involved to his personal security, Shri Doval prepared and executed a plan for enticing the terrorists and succeeded in trapping some of the wanted notorious terrorists. In carrying out these assignments, Shri Ajit Kumar Doval has not only exhibited remarkable resourcefulness and devotion to duty, but he has carried out his task with a single-mindedness of purpose and shown exemplary courage even risking his life on several occasions."

See also

References

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Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ajit Doval.
  • Doval, Ajit (21 November 2009). "Terrorist threat and response capability – India a year after". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 24 November 2009.
  • Doval, Ajit (12 February 2012). "Working in real time". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  • Pathak, Ojaswa. "The Doval Doctrine: Analysing the Legality of India's Policy of Cross Border Counterterror Operations". NLIU Law Review. X (2): 195–227.
  • Hussain, Naveed (6 July 2025). "Doval Doctrine: India's trail of terror". The Express Tribune.
  • Gupta, Manoj (8 July 2025). Ratti, Pragati (ed.). "'No Proof, No Credibility': Indian Intelligence Sources Dismiss Pakistan's 'Doval Doctrine' Claims". News18.
  • Shah, Amita (17 August 2017). "The Doval Doctrine: Never Say Never Again". Open Magazine. Vol. 9, no. 32.
  • Khare, Harish (17 July 2015). "The Doval Doctrine, from High Definition to Low Yield". The Wire.
  • Malik, Tassawar Aziz; Qayyum, Sehrish (2022). "Indian Political Doctrines" (PDF). Margalla Papers (1): 18–33.
  • Noorani, A.G. (28 October 2015). "The Doval doctrine". Frontline.
  • Aaron, Sushil (16 September 2016). "Narendra Modi is implementing the Doval doctrine in Kashmir". Hindustan Times.
  • "Watch Ajit Doval say if Pakistan does 'one Mumbai' it may lose Balochistan". Scroll.in. 6 January 2016.
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