Waltz vs Doval: India’s Lesson in NSA Stability Amid US Turmoil

While US President Trump replaced National Security Adviser Mike Waltz within 100 days-citing a security gaff over sensitive conversations-the contrast with India's approach is stark. While the US cycles through NSAs (no fewer than six during Trump's first term alone), India's Ajit Doval has offered a decade of reassuring stability, shaping policy through crises like the Balakot airstrike, Doklam standoff, and the nullification of Jammu & Kashmir's special status.

 

Doval's long incumbency has served to build stable relationships with global counterparts such that India is able to play tricky geopolitics while Washington's revolving door undermines continuity and trust. Analysts note that Doval's background as a spymaster and Cabinet-level appointment have anchored India's security policy, in contrast to the US where cabinet churn and political loyalty tests prevail over expertise.

 

India's experience is that stability and institutional memory at the helm of the national security machinery can be a force multiplier-something the US, in the midst of its latest NSA shake-up, might do well to emulate.

 

 Source: Firstpost, BBC, Wikipedia