# Chief of Integrated Defence Staff

The Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) is the statutory office that heads the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS), the principal inter-service syndicate of the Indian Armed Forces. Customarily held by a three-star officer nominated from either of India's three armed services, the CISC is the second-highest authority responsible for inter-service jointness, subordinate only to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
By function, the CISC is the executive-in-charge of the IDS, and thus, maintains oversight over inter-service coordination on crucial disciplines related to military functioning, specifically, intelligence, doctrine, joint planning, budgetary allocations and training. In addition, the CISC serves as a non-voting member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee - of which the CDS is its Chairman; thus by definition, the CISC reports to the CDS, who is the final authority on military jointness.
Domestically, the CISC ranks 23rd-overall in the Indian order of precedence and is the status-equivalent to the Vice Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force; internationally, it is identical to Canada's Vice Chief of the Defence Staff and Spain's Chief of the Joint Defence Staff.

## Description
### Mandate

As the penultimate authority (second only to the CDS) tasked with the affairs of inter-service administration of the armed forces, the CISC participates in two crucial bodies: the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) and the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS).

#### Chiefs of Staff Committee

The COSC is an inter-service syndicate of the armed forces, which functions as a principal advisory body dealing with matters related to inter-service coordination, policy formulation and strategy development. It comprises the CDS - who acts as its Permanent Chairman and the Chiefs of Staff of the three armed services; the CISC is also a member, albeit a non-voting one.
* To supervise and control the IDS - which acts as the arm-cum-secretariat of the CDS and the COSC.
* To chair the Defence Crisis Management Group.
* To supervise the co-ordination of Long Range Plans, Five Years Plans and Annual Budgetary proposals for the three services and presenting coordinated set of proposals to Minister of Defence after discussion with Chiefs of Staff and the Defence Secretary.
* To coordinate, analyze, assess and remove the impact of any discovered critical deficiencies on the three armed services.
* To coordinate, conduct and plan inter-service training.

#### Vice Chief's Committee

In addition to the COSC, the CISC chairs the VCC, which comprises the Vice Chiefs of Staff of the three services; this being maintained since the status of CISC itself is deemed equivalent to that of a Vice Chief.
* To deal with any and all inter-service issues.
* To resolve inter-service disputes.
* To provide military recommendations to the Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).

### Structure

Since its inception in 2001 the office of CISC is held on a rotational basis by the three armed services, with a three-star officer being the customary occupant.
Additionally, the CISC is assisted by the undermentioned subordinate officers, all of whom are also three-star officers:
* Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Policy Planning and Force Development) - DCIDS (PP&FD).
* Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Doctrine, Organisation and Training) - DCIDS (DOT).
* Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Operations) - DCIDS (OPS).
* Director General Defence Intelligence Agency & Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Intelligence) - DGDIA & DCIDS (Int).
* Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Medical Branch) - DCIDS (Med).

## List of officeholders

| No. | Portrait | Name (born–died) | Term of office | Term of office | Term of office | Service branch | Ref. |
| No. | Portrait | Name (born–died) | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Service branch | Ref. |
| 1 | | Lieutenant General Pankaj Joshi PVSM, AVSM | 1 October 2001 | 30 September 2003 | 1 year, 364 days | Indian Army | |
| 2 | | Vice Admiral Raman Puri PVSM, AVSM, VSM | 20 October 2003 | 28 February 2006 | 2 years, 131 days | Indian Navy | |
| 3 | | Lieutenant General H. S. Lidder UYSM, YSM, VSM | 2 March 2006 | 30 September 2008 | 2 years, 212 days | Indian Army | |
| 4 | | Air Marshal Suresh Chandra Mukul AVSM, VM, VSM | 1 October 2008 | 30 December 2010 | 2 years, 90 days | Indian Air Force | |
| 5 | | Vice Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM | 31 December 2010 | 3 July 2011 | 184 days | Indian Navy | |
| 6 | | Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha AVSM, NM | 4 July 2011 | 30 August 2011 | 57 days | Indian Navy | |
| 7 | | Vice Admiral S. P. S. Cheema AVSM, NM | 31 August 2011 | 1 November 2012 | 1 year, 62 days | Indian Navy | |
| 8 | | Lieutenant General N. C. Marwah PVSM, AVSM | 2 November 2012 | 30 June 2013 | 240 days | Indian Army | |
| 9 | | Lieutenant General Anil Chait PVSM, AVSM, VSM | 1 July 2013 | 30 June 2014 | 364 days | Indian Army | |
| 10 | | Air Marshal P. P. Reddy VM | 1 July 2014 | 30 October 2016 | 2 years, 121 days | Indian Air Force | |
| 11 | | Lieutenant General Satish Dua UYSM, SM, VSM | 31 October 2016 | 31 October 2018 | 2 years, 0 days | Indian Army | |
| 12 | | Lieutenant General P. S. Rajeshwar PVSM, AVSM, VSM | 1 November 2018 | 30 November 2019 | 1 year, 29 days | Indian Army | |
| 13 | | Vice Admiral R. Hari Kumar AVSM, VSM | 2 December 2019 | 28 February 2021 | 1 year, 88 days | Indian Navy | |
| 14 | | Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain PVSM, AVSM, VSM | 28 February 2021 | 30 September 2021 | 214 days | Indian Navy | |
| 15 | | Air Marshal Balabhadra Radha Krishna AVSM, SC | 30 September 2021 | 31 March 2023 | 214 days | Indian Air Force | |
| 16 | | Lieutenant General Johnson P Mathew PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM | 03 April 2023 | Incumbent | 1 year, 342 days | Indian Army | |