New Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen a daring former spy with years of experience in dealing with Pakistan as his national security adviser, a move that officials say signals a more muscular approach to New Delhi's traditional enemy.
The choice of Ajit Doval, alongside former Indian Army chief Gen. V.K. Singh as a federal minister for the northeast region, underscores plans to revamp national security that Modi says became weak under the outgoing government.
The two top-level appointments, reporting directly to Modi, point to a desire to address what are arguably India's two most pressing external security concerns — Pakistan and China, both of which, like India, have nuclear arms.