Hunt For Next Spymaster: R&AW Chief's Extension or Successor In Making?

The present R&AW Chief Samant Goel is to complete his second extension by this month's end i.e. 30th June 2023. Already two extensions and perhaps on the road to become longest serving chiefs of R&AW after Vikram Sood. Though the possibility of a third extension cannot be denied but considering a slight change in top brass's behavior towards giving extension may leave some scope for guessing the next chief. Ravi Sinha, number two in R&AW, is said to be a regular successor if Goel does not get further extension. However, an interesting twist is that Parag Jain, a 1989 batch IPS officer who is the third or equivalent command in R&AW has a solid chance to bypass the regular successor Sinha though he(Jain) still has four years of service left. The present security landscape though plotted with a variety of challenges but a few special mentions like Pakistan's attempt to disturb Punjab and revive Khalistan may go in favour of Jain while considering him for the next spymaster. If we look then a similar case was done last year with the Intelligence Bureau, A.S Rajan who was leading the race for the next Director of the Intelligence Bureau was swiftly bypassed by Tapan Deka at the last moment. The factor of security terrain did go in the favor of Deka, targeted killing was on the rise last year, and Deka being a counter-terrorism (CT) specialist and having a wide ranging experience in J&K was chosen as the next DIB. If Parag makes it then one more minute yet noticeable similarity will come into play a few years back former Director of IB Rajiv Jain was one year senior to former R&AW Chief A.K Dhasmana(1980 and 1981 batches respectively). Will Goel continues to solidify his journey as longest serving R&AW Chief in the modern day time or a new successor will get into the making, though is a matter of a few weeks now but it would be interesting to watch.