Secretary to the Ministry of Defence has appointed Rear Admiral (Retd) Dimuthu Gunawardena to the post of Director (Communications and Publications) of the Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka (INSSSL) from 01st June 2020.
Rear Admiral Dimuthu Gunawardena is a retired Naval officer who has been called for active service in the Regular Naval Reserve. During his Naval career spanning over 35 years he specialized in Naval Communications and has acquired wide and varied experience at sea and ashore before retiring in April 2018. His sea career culminated in 2008 after relinquishing command of SLNS Samudura, an Offshore Patrol Vessel which was instrumental in taking an active role in the final years of the humanitarian operation in the North and the East. He has served in leadership appointments ashore such as Area Commander of North Central Naval Area, and Commandant of the Naval and Maritime Academy, in Trincomalee. He was nominated to actively participate in several national and international conferences/seminars representing the navy and the country.
He began his naval career in the third batch of the Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy and at the same time pursued his studies graduating with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in 1985 from the University of Colombo. Thereafter he obtained three master’s degrees from Sir John Kotelawala Defence University in 2007, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India in 2009 and National Defence University, Pakistan in 2014. In addition to medals of gallantry awarded for acts of bravery, his distinguished naval career has been recognized with awards on several occasions. Before being appointed to the INSSSL, he served as Additional Director General of the Civil Defence Force in Sri Lanka.