Former Border Security Force (BSF) Director General Pankaj Kumar Singh has been named India’s Deputy National Security Advisor (Dy NSA) at the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).
According to a formal order, Singh has been placed on a two-year re-employment contract that will take effect on the day he takes over as Dy NSA or until further orders. Upon taking on the new position, Singh will work with NSA Ajit Doval to develop, implement, and improvise India’s national security strategies.
This will involve evaluating threats from terrorism, data breaches and theft, cyber threats, the preparedness of relevant agencies, and collaboration between important organisations dealing with security issues and affairs.
On August 31, 2021, Pankaj Kumar Singh, an IPS officer from the Rajasthan cadre who graduated in 1988, assumed responsibility as BSF DG, making him and his father Prakash Singh the first father-son team to lead the BSF. BSF was led by IPS officer Prakash Singh, a member of the 1959 batch, from June 1993 until January 1994.
Pankaj formerly held the positions of Inspector General (Chhattisgarh) and IG (Operations) at CRPF Headquarters in Delhi before joining the BSF. After Pankaj Singh petitioned the Supreme Court in 1996 to carry out changes in the police system, the government began granting the head of the Intelligence Bureau, the CBI, the foreign secretary, the head of RAW, and the Union home secretary a fixed tenure of at least two years.
He will assume the responsibility of policy formulation inside the NSCS. All facets of national security are discussed by the National Security Council (NSC), a three-tier institution led by the Prime Minister, as part of the country’s security matrix.
Its members are the Ministers of Home Affairs, Defense, External Affairs, and Finance. Its Secretary is the National Security Adviser. The Strategic Policy Group (SPG), the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), and the National Security Council Secretariat make up the NSC’s three-tier structure.
The primary platform for inter-ministerial coordination and integration of the pertinent inputs is the SPG, which is presided over by the Cabinet Secretary. The NSAB conducts extensive research and offers viewpoints on matters pertaining to national security.
