Vikram Sood, a career intelligence officer for thirty-one years who retired in March 2003 after heading the R&AW, is currently an adviser at the Observer Research Foundation, an independent public-policy think tank based in New Delhi. He writes regularly on security, foreign relations and strategic issues in journals and newspapers and has contributed chapters related to security, China, intelligence and India's neighbourhood to books published in the last few years. He has also authored The Unending Game: A Former R&AW Chief's Insights into Espionage (2018) and Great Power Games: From Western Decline to Eastern Ascent (2025).