Former RAW leader named head of rebuilt NSAB.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) met with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, and service chiefs.

• Modi expressed confidence in the armed forces’ abilities and gave them “complete operational freedom” to decide on the Indian response.

• New members of the Board include former Ambassador to Russia D. B. Venkatesh Varma, former Southern Army Commander Lt. Gen. A.K. Singh, former Western Air Commander Air Marshal P. M. Sinha, Rear Admiral Monty Khanna, and former IPS officers Rajiv Ranjan Verma, Manmohan Singh, and A.B. Mathur.

• The reconstitution is a standard practice of bringing in new members once tenure is complete.

• The National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) assists the NSC, NSAB, and the Strategic Policy Group.