What is the full form of NSA?
NSA: National Security Advisor
NSA stands for National Security Advisor. A person holding this rank serves as the senior official or head of the National Security Council of India and as a chief adviser to the Prime Minister of India. This post was created on 19 November 1998 by the govt. of India. As of now, it has become a powerful and influential post with the rise of India on the International platform. The current NSA in India as of November 2020 is Ajit Doval. He was reappointed again as the NSA by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he was given the rank of a cabinet minister. As of now, he is the longest-serving NSA of India.
NSA is a prominent and powerful officer in the govt. of India. They are appointed from the Indian Foreign Service or the Indian Police Service. They only report to the Prime Minister of India. The NSA is appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), which is headed by the Prime Minister of India. Besides this, NSA is assisted by deputy NSA. As of now, there are two deputy NSA to assist Ajit Doval, i.e., Retired IPS Rajinder Khanna and Pankaj Saran (IFS).
Some of the major functions of the NSA:
- He or she frequently advises the Prime Minister of India on all issues related to threats and opportunities to India.
- NSA also looks after the sensitive matters on behalf of the Prime Minister.
- He or she also acts as a special Interlocutor of PM with China and as a diplomat to other countries related to security affairs.
- NSA collects inputs related to intelligence from other agencies like IB, RAW, NIA, etc., and present them before the prime minister of India.
List of National Security Advisors of India:
- Brajesh Mishra, from Nov. 1998 to 22 May 2004, during the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee
- J.N. Dixit, from 23 May 2004 to 3 January 2005, under the government of Manmohan Singh
- M.K. Narayanan, an IPS, from 3 Jan. 2005 to 23 Jan. 2010 under the government of Manmohan Singh
- Shivshankar Menon, an IFS, from 24 Jan. 2010 to 28 May 2014 during the government of Manmohan Singh
- Ajit Doval, an IPS, from 30 May 2014 to till data under the government of Narendra Modi