Former RAW Chief Rajinder Khanna Appointed Deputy National Security Advisor

New Delhi: Former RAW chief Rajinder Khanna was appointed the Deputy National Security Advisor by the government on Tuesday.

A 1978-batch officer, Khanna has led many counter-terrorism operations in the spy agency and is reportedly an expert on Pakistan and Islamic terrorism.

He will assist National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who too is a former RAW chief. The two are said to have a good relationship from their tenure in the spy agency.

The order of the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet stated that Khanna has been appointed as Deputy NSA without a fixed tenure and would remain at the post until further orders.

He headed the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) from December 2014 for a fixed two-year period.

After his stint in RAW, he was appointed the Officer on Special Duty (Neighbourhood Studies) in the National Security Council Secretariat, which is the apex body on all internal and external security-related matters and is headed by the Prime Minister.

Neighbourhood Studies prepares policy papers of neighbouring countries including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.