# National Security Council (India)

The National Security Council (NSC) (IAST: Rāṣṭrīya Surakṣā Pariṣad) of India is an executive government body tasked with advising the prime Minister of India on matters of national security and foreign policy. It was established by the former prime minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 19 November 1998, with Brajesh Mishra as the first National Security Advisor.

## Members

Besides the National Security Advisor (NSA), Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the Additional National Security Advisor, the Deputy National Security Advisors, the Ministers of Defence, External Affairs, Home, Finance of the Government of India, and the vice chairman of the NITI Aayog are members of the National Security Council.
Under the revamp of National Security Council Secretariat on 1 July 2024 the post of Additional National Security Advisor was filled up in the National Security Council Secretariat which was vacant till now, this move now frees up the NSA from the task of internal security management and threat analysis which will from now be looked upon by the Additional NSA sparing the NSA to directly assist the Prime Minister's Office in the other ongoing security challenges.

## Organisational structure

The NSC is the apex body of the three-tiered structure of the national security management system in India which exercises its power through National Security Council Secretariat having four verticals namely Strategic Planning, Internal Affairs, Intelligence and Technology and a Military vertical. The three tiers of the National Security Council are the Strategic Policy Group, the National Security Advisory Board and a secretariat from the Joint Intelligence Committee.

### Strategic Policy Group

The Strategic Policy Group is the first level of the three tier structure of the National Security Council. It forms the nucleus of the decision-making apparatus of the NSC. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is the chairman of the group and it consists of the following members:
* Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog (Suman Bery)
* Cabinet Secretary (T. V. Somanathan, IAS)
* Chief of Defence Staff (General Anil Chauhan)
* Chief of the Army Staff (General Upendra Dwivedi)
* Chief of the Naval Staff (Admiral Dinesh Tripathi)
* Chief of the Air Staff (Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh)
* Governor, Reserve Bank of India (Sanjay Malhotra)
* Foreign Secretary (Vikram Misri, IFS)
* Defence Secretary (Rajesh Kumar Singh, IAS)
* Home Secretary (Govind Mohan, IAS)
* Finance Secretary (Tuhin Kanta Pandey, IAS)
* Secretary, R&AW (Ravi Sinha, IPS)
* Director General, Defence Intelligence Agency (Lieutenant General D S Rana)
* Director, Intelligence Bureau (Tapan Deka, IPS)
* Secretary, Defence Production( Sanjeev Kumar IAS)
* Scientific Advisor to the Raksha Mantri (G. Satheesh Reddy)
* Chairman of Defence Research and Development Organisation (Samir V. Kamat)
* Secretary (Atomic Energy) and ex-officio Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (Ajit Kumar Mohanty)
* Secretary (Space) and ex-officio Chairman, Indian Space Research Organization (S. Somanath)
The Strategic Policy Group undertakes the Strategic Defence Review, a blueprint of short and long term security threats, as well as possible policy options on a priority basis.

### National Security Advisory Board

The brainchild of the first National Security Advisor (NSA), Brajesh Mishra, a former member of Indian Foreign Service. The National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) consists of a group of eminent national security experts outside of the government. Members are usually senior retired officials, civilian as well as military, academicias and distinguished members of civil society drawn from and having expertise in Internal and External Security, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Science & Technology and Economic Affairs.
The first NSAB, constituted in December 1998, headed by the late K. Subrahmanyam produced a draft Nuclear Doctrine for the country in 2001, a Strategic Defence Review in 2002 and a National Security Review in 2007.
The board meets at least once a month, and more frequently as required. It provides a long-term prognosis and analysis to the NSC and recommends solutions and address policy issues referred to it. Initially the board was constituted for one year, but since 2004–06, the board has been reconstituted for two years.
The tenure of the previous NSAB, headed by former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, ended in January 2015. It had 14 members.
The new board has been re-constituted in July 2018, with P. S. Raghavan, former Indian Ambassador to Russia (2014–16), as its head. The NSAB has currently two subordinate bodies working under it : (i) National Information Board (NIB) and (ii) Technology Coordination Group (TCG). It has a tenure of two years.
Currently the board has the following members:-
| Members | Experience |
| Ajit Doval | National Security Advisor |
| Bimal N. Patel | Vice-Chancellor, Rashtriya Raksha University |
| K. Radhakrishnan | Former chairman, ISRO |
| Anshuman Tripathy | Associate Professor, IIM Bangalore |
| Arun K. Singh | Former Ambassador to France and the United States. |
| Tilak Devasher | Pakistan specialist and former senior intelligence officer |
| Prof. V. Kamakoti | Director, IIT Madras |
| Kulbir Krishnan | Former DGP, Meghalaya |
| Alok Joshi | Former chairman, NTRO |
| Lt Gen. Yogesh Kumar Joshi (retd) | Director General, Centre for Contemporary China Studies, MEA |
| Sridhar Vembu | Founder and CEO, Zoho Corporation |

### Joint Intelligence Committee

The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) of the Government of India analyses intelligence data from the Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing and the Directorates of Military, Naval and Air Intelligence and thus analyses both domestic and foreign intelligence. The JIC has its own Secretariat that works under the Cabinet Secretariat.

### Cyber Security

National Cyber Security Strategy is formulated by the Office of National Cyber Security Coordinator at the National Security Council Secretariat. The National Security Council Secretariat and National Information Board headed by National Security Adviser to whom National Cyber Coordination Centre reports are at working under the cyber security surveillance helping in framing India's cyber security policy. It aims to protect the cyber space including critical information infrastructure from attack, damage, misuse and economic espionage.
In 2014 the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre under the National Technical Research Organisation mandated the protection of critical information infrastructure. In 2015, the Office of National Cyber Security Coordinator was created to advice the Prime Minister on strategic cyber security issues. In the case of nodal entity, India's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) is playing a crucial role under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MEITY).
On 15 June 2021, the Government of India launched the Trusted Telecom Portal signalling the coming into effect of the National Security Directive on Telecommunication Sector (NSDTS). Consequently, with effect from 15 June 2021 the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) are mandatorily required to connect in their networks only those new devices which are designated as Trusted Products from Trusted Sources.