Newsmaker: A new appointee [The NSA]

After outgoing NSA M. K. Narayanan received a gubernatorial assignment, appointment of Mr. Menon as a National Security Adviser to Prime Minster of India received a considerable amount of media attention in recent past. NSA has wider-ranging responsibilities in the domain of external affairs, inner security and long –term strategic planning.
Siddhartha Varadarajan , External Affairs editor of the Hindu reviewed the function of NSA from its inception. He says, “the NSA’s is by definition a plodding job in which he/she has to put lots of small things together, in especially in order to cover for the inadequacies of the Indian bureaucratic system.
Despite Sharm El Sheikh imbroglio, Mr. Menon’s diplomatic career is very impressive. Everybody knows that foreign diplomacy is in his vein and Mr. Menon have an excellent record in South Block. He had played a key role in negotiating much-hyped Indo –US civil nuclear deal, along with Sham Saran. In his diplomatic stint, he was closely affiliated with optimum approach – J. N Dixit approach- “neighbourhood first”. In 2006, he appointed as foreign secretary of India because of acumen and intellectual reputation and superseded 12 seniors to the post.
The next national security advisor (NSA), whose appointment is expected before Republic Day, is likely to focus on the problems of diplomatic engagement rather than be involved in operational intelligence coordination, government sources indicated on Tuesday.