Major General (Retired) Wais Waheed has been appointed as the new Director General of the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC), replacing Brigadier General (Retired) Zakariyya Mansoor.
Mansoor joined the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) in March 1984 and retired from active service after 37 years in December 2021.
He held the top job at the NCTC until his removal on 17 November, following the assumption of office by the new government.
Mansoor holds a Master of Arts in Strategic Security Studies and has also completed courses and training programmes in various military and counter-terrorism fields.
At the time of his retirement, in December 2023 after 34 years of service, Major General Wais Waheed was the Commanding Officer of the MNDF Marine Corps and College of Defence and Security Studies.
The NCTC is an agency under the Ministry of Defence working to combat terrorism and extremism. It was first established as the Office for Counter Terrorism. In 2014, it was renamed the Department of Counter Terrorism.
Then, in 2015, with the passage of the anti-terrorism law, which necessitated the establishment of a national agency to combat terrorism and extremism, NCTC was established on 25 February 2016 under a presidential decree.
The Director General is the head of the NCTC, which is under the direct supervision of the Minister of Defence. The agency is staffed by MNDF officers.
Mansoor leaves the NCTC after serving the state for over 39 years.