Ajit Kumar DovalKC (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.
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]
One of Doval's first assignments was to tackle the insurgency in northeast India in the 1970s. He had a role in laying the groundwork for negotiation and the Mizoram Peace Accord of 1986.[9][19][20] Doval spent five years, mostly undercover, in Aizawl.[19] He was the man behind turning six of seven of Laldenga's commanders.[19]
He played a role in intelligence for Sikkim's merger with India.[25][28]
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.[29][30] He worked at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad for six years from 1983 to 1987.[31][32] Officially he was head of the commercial section.[33] His undercover roles in Pakistan would allow him to visit mosques for prayers and make friends through which he could gather relevant information.[22] To fit the role, he had to get plastic surgery done on his pierced ears.[22][34]
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.[23]
He was trained under M. K. Narayanan, the third National Security Advisor of India for a brief period in counterterrorism operations.[33][23]
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][23][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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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
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]
In January 2026, Doval addressed the "Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue," where he called on the youth to "avenge our history" through proactive national reconstruction.[98] This address was noted for its departure from traditional scholarly focus on historical loot, framing national building instead as a form of civilizational resurgence.[99]
Doval was the youngest police officer to receive the Police Medal for meritorious service.[25] He was given the award by Indira Gandhi in 1974 after six years in the police force.[6][25][106]
In 1989, 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.[108] He received the award for his role in Operation Black Thunder II.[36][20] His official citation reads,[3]
"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."
In 2025 web series Salakaar for JioHotstar based on his covert operation in Pakistan in 1970s, his role was played by Naveen Kasturia (as his younger self) and Purnendu Bhattacharya (as his present self) alias as Adhir Dayal.
↑Sharma, Anil (2014). IA's Terror Trail. See 'Foreword' by Ajit Doval. Shehna Books. p.7. ISBN9789351561811. ...this book is perhaps the first effort of its kind, which chronicles all 15 incidents of hijackings of Indian Airlines aircraft between 1971 and 1999 [...] Having had the opportunity of dealing with all these hijackings in one way or the other...
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
