Lt Gen S L Narasimhan was an Infantry Officer. A mandarin speaker, he has served as the Defence Attaché in the Embassy of India in China. He is a former Member of National Security Advisory Board and was the first Director General, Centre for Contemporary China Studies embedded in the Ministry of External Affairs. He is presently an Adjunct Distinguished Fellow with Gateway House, Mumbai, Non - Resident Senior Associate with CSIS, Washington DC, Adjunct Professor with National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, and Emeritus Resource Faculty with Rashtriya Raksha University, India. He graduated in Mathematics, and has a Post-Graduation degree in Defence Studies and a PhD in India China Relations.