Ajit Doval

Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Indian English 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. Doval's father, Major Gunanand Doval, was an officer in the Indian Army. He served in the Bengal Sappers for 36 years.

He received his early education at the Ajmer Military School in Ajmer, Rajasthan. He graduated with a bachelor's and master's degree in economics from Agra University in 1967. He married Aruni Doval in 1972 and has two children Shaurya and Vivek Doval.

He does not have a social media account. He does not use computers for any form of personal communication.

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.

Doval worked in Thalassery, Kerala, for a few months in 1972, before joining the central service. He has the experience of being involved in the termination of all 15 hijackings of Indian Airlines aircraft from 1971 to 1999, a notable instance was the 1999 hijacked aeroplane IC-814. 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).

His government job largely saw him as a typical undercover officer. 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. He worked at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad for six years from 1983 to 1987.

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

In 1988 during Operation Black Thunder, he infiltrated the Golden temple posing as an ISI agent disguised as a rickshaw puller, did espionage on Khalistani separatists, gathered information about their weapons and made maps of their positions. Doval became an important member in their group and gave wrong advice to them to sabotage, which helped Operation Bluestar. In 1991 he headed the operation to rescue a captured Romanian diplomat from four Sikh militant groups including Bhindranwale Tiger Force.

He played a role in intelligence for Sikkim's merger with India. He was trained under M. K. Narayanan, the third National Security Advisor of India for a brief period in counterterrorism operations.

Doval was later appointed director of the Intelligence Bureau. He culminated his IB career as Director from July 2004 until his retirement on January 31, 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.

Post-retirement (2005–2014)

Doval retired in January 2005 as Director, Intelligence Bureau. He continued working unofficially.

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.

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. 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 2012 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 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

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.

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.

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. He rules out an offensive strategy as that could lead to the nuclear threshold being crossed.

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

National Security Advisor (2014–present)

File:Secretary Kerry Meets With Indian National Security Advisor Doval in Washington (31398436340).jpg

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). 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. 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 (NSCN-K) separatists operating out of Myanmar. Indian officials claimed that the mission was a success and 20–38 separatist belonging to Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) were killed in the operation. 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.

File:Narendra Modi being given a presentation on counter-terrorist and combing operation by the Defence Forces, at Pathankot Airbase. The National Security Adviser, Shri Ajit Doval, the Chief of Army Staff.jpg

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. It was speculated that the September 2016 Indian strikes in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir were his brainchild. 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.

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 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 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.

On 3 June 2019, he was reappointed as NSA for another 5 years and granted the personal rank of a Cabinet Minister. 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.

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.

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

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.

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

On 13 June 2024, Ajit Doval was granted third five-year extension for his tenure as National Security Advisor of India.

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.

Awards and recognitions

• He has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University (formerly Agra University) in December 2017; Kumaun University in May 2018; and Amity University, in November 2018.
• Doval was the youngest police officer to receive the Police Medal for meritorious service. He was given the award by Indira Gandhi in 1974 after six years in the police force.
• Doval was later awarded the President's Police Medal.
• 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. He received the award for his role in Operation Black Thunder II.

In popular culture

• Doval appeared on Epic TV's show Adrishya, in which his success against Khalistani separatist during Operation Black Thunder was featured.
• In the film Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019), his cinematic character was portrayed by Paresh Rawal.
• In the film Dhurandhar (2025), the character "Ajay Sanyal" portrayed by R. Madhavan is heavily inspired by Doval.
• 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.

See also

• Ravindra Kaushik – spy of India.
• Bahirji Naik – spy of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Further reading

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