Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Jeewaka Ruwan Kulatunga, RSP, ndc, psc, (also known as J R Kulatunga) is a retired Sri Lankan general. He served as the Chief of National Intelligence having served as the

Commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

of the

Defence Services Command and Staff College The Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) is situated at Batalanda, Makola (South) 12 Kilometers away from Colombo and its aim to develop the professional knowledge and understanding of experienced officers of the Sri Lanka Army, Sri ...

and the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the

General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) ( Sinhala: ජෙනරාල් ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් කොතලාවල ආරක්ෂක විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය ''General Sir John Kotelawala'' ''Ar ...

Early life

Born in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

, Kulatunga was educated at Nalanda College Colombo.

Military career

Ruwan joined army in 1984 as an

officer cadet Officer Cadet is a rank held by military cadets during their training to become commissioned officers. In the United Kingdom, the rank is also used by members of University Royal Naval Units, University Officer Training Corps and University Air ...

, receiving his basic training at the

Sri Lanka Military Academy The Sri Lanka Military Academy () (SLMA or SLMA Diyatalawa), commonly known simply as Diyatalawa, is the Sri Lanka Army's training centre where officer cadets are trained for getting commission. It is located in the garrison town of Diyatalawa ...

and was commissioned on 16 December 1985 as a

Second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the 1st Battalion,

Sri Lanka Light Infantry The Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI) is the oldest regiment in the Sri Lanka Army and the oldest infantry regiment in the army. It is made up of ten regular battalions and five volunteer battalions, and is headquartered at the Panagoda Cantonment, ...

. He held platoon and company level command, seeing combat in the Sri Lankan Civil War. He graduated from the Special Forces Training School in North Carolina and the

University of Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of highe ...

in Strategic and Defence Studies obtaining PSC.

Senior command

Kulatunga commanded an infantry battalion in

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...

and Vanni during the height of the operations against the

Tamil Tigers The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

. His staff appointments included Colonel, General Staff of the 53 Infantry Division (Reserve Strike Force) from 2002 to 2003. Later in December 2005 he was appointed an Infantry Brigade Commander, an appointment which he held until September 2007 in Muhamalei, Jaffna. During war Kulatunga was the

of Jaffna Town Sector responsible for coordinating civil affairs and administration in the peninsula. He is a graduate of

National Defense College of the Philippines The National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) ( fil, Dalubhasaan ng Tanggulang Pambansa ng Pilipinas) is an educational, training, and research agency of the Philippine government located inside Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon ...

in National Security Administration. He was the Commander, 55 Infantry division in 2012 in Jaffna. Major General Kulatunga also held several notable appointments such as commandant of

military assistant A military assistant is sub-specialty of secretarial duties in the British Armed Forces and many of those derived from them, is an officer appointed to the personal office of a general officer. Whilst aides de camp (ADCs) are responsible for adm ...

to the

Commander of the Army (Sri Lanka) The Commander of the Army ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ යුද්ධ හමුදාපති, śrī laṁkāvē yuddha hamudāpati) is the title of the professional head of the Sri Lanka Army. The current Commander of the Army is ...

, director of operations at the Army Headquarters.

Chief of National Intelligence

In June 2019, he was appointed to Chief of National Intelligence by President

Sirisena Sirisena is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena ( si, පල්ලෙවත්‍ත ගමරාළලාගේ මෛත්‍රීපාල යාපා සිරිසේන; ...

succeeding

Sisira Mendis Sisira Mendis was a Sri Lankan police officer. He was a former Deputy Inspector-General of Police and the Director of Criminal Investigation Department. Following his retirement from the Sri Lanka Police, he served as Chief of National Intellige ...

who resigned after giving testimony that the Parliamentary select committee to inquire into the

2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, there were smaller expl ...

which had outraged President Sirisena.Chief of National Intelligence Sisira Mendis resigns
/ref>

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kulatunga, Jeewaka Ruwan Sri Lankan Buddhists Sri Lankan major generals Sinhalese military personnel Alumni of Nalanda College, Colombo Sri Lanka Military Academy graduates Sri Lanka Light Infantry officers Chiefs of National Intelligence