Balakot mastermind Samant Goel to lead RAW, Kashmir expert Arvind Kumar to be new IB chief

Arvind Kumar has been appointed as the new head of the Intelligence Bureau and Samant Goel will take charge of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). the government made these two key intel appointments on Wednesday. Both the IPS officers are from the 1984 batch with Goel belonging to Punjab cadre and Kumar, to Assam-Meghalaya cadre.. 

Before being appointed the RAW chief, Goel was heading operations for the agency and was instrumental in planning the February 26 Balakot air strikes as well as the 2016 surgical strikes. Goel has handled Punjab militancy at its peak in the 1990s and is a Pakistan expert, Hindustan Times reported.

On the other hand, Arvind Kumar has been closely involved in tackling left-wing extremism at the Intelligence Bureau. He was holding the charge as special director Kashmir at the intelligence agency.

Kumar replaces Rajiv Jain and Goel will succeed Anil Dhasmana. Jain and Dhasmana were appointed in December 2016 and were given a six-month extension as the country moved into election mode.

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