Satish Chandra joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1965 and till 1989 was posted in various capacities in Indian missions in Vienna, Karachi, Washington D.C., Algiers, and Dhaka as well as at headquarters. Subsequently, he served as India's Ambassador to the Philippines (1989-1992), its Permanent Representative to the UN Offices in Geneva (1992-1995) and its High Commissioner to Pakistan (1995-1998). He set up the NSCS in 1999 and headed it as Secretary till demission from office in February 2005 concurrently holding the post of Deputy National Security Advisor from February 2002. Apart from representing India at a variety of multilateral fora such as the IAEA, WHO, ILO, the UN Human Rights Commission, the Disarmament Commission etc, he served as the President of the Conference on Disarmament during his assignment in Geneva. He was President of the Association of Indian Diplomats in 2010. Currently, he is Dean, Centre for National Security and Strategic Studies, Vivekananda International Foundation.
Dr Smita Tiwari is Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi. Before joining the ICWA, she was a Guest Faculty in the University of Delhi and Jamia Millia Islamia, taking courses on various issues of India and South Asia. She has also worked with the United Service Institution of India (USI) and Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) New Delhi. She has been part of many research projects. Dr. Tiwari has received her PhD from South Asian Studies Division, School of International Studies, JNU in 2012. Her research interests include: governments and politics in South Asia, particularly Afghanistan and Pakistan; non-traditional security threats and challenges in South Asia, Indian diaspora, international migration and development, India's foreign and neighbourhood policies.