India[]
The Indian National Security Council (NSC) is is the primary government agency that deals with the country's political, economic, energy and strategic security concerns. It was established on November 19, 1998.
United Kingdom[]
The U.K. National Security Council (NSC) was established on May 12, 2010. It oversees all aspects of Britain’s national security.
The NSC brings together key Ministers, and military and intelligence chiefs. It meets weekly and places a powerful structure at the heart of government to make sure the country's limited resources are deployed to best effect.
United States[]
The U.S. National Security Council (NSC) was established by the National Security Act of 1947 to create an inter-departmental body to offer confidential advice to the President on all aspects of national security policy. It was subsequently placed within the Executive Office of the President. Currently, statutory members of the Council are the President, Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense; but, at the President's request, other senior officials participate in NSC deliberations. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence are statutory advisers. In 2007, the Secretary of Energy was added to the NSC membership.
The President holds final decision-making authority in the executive branch. Over the years, however, the NSC staff has emerged as a major factor in the formulation (and at times in the implementation) of national security policy. Similarly, the head of the NSC staff, the National Security Advisor, has played important, and occasionally highly public, roles in policy making.
The organization and influence of the NSC have varied significantly from one Administration to another, from a highly structured and formal system to loose-knit teams of experts. It is universally acknowledged that the NSC staff should be organized to meet the particular goals and work habits of an incumbent President. The history of the NSC provides ample evidence of the advantages and disadvantages of different types of policymaking structures.
Congress enacted the statute creating the NSC and has altered the character of its membership over the years. Congress annually appropriates funds for its activities, but does not, routinely, receive testimony on substantive matters from the National Security Adviser or from NSC staff. Proposals to require Senate confirmation of the National Security Adviser have been discussed but not adopted.
The post-Cold War world has posed new challenges to NSC policymaking. Some argue that the NSC should be broadened to reflect an expanding role of economic, environmental, and demographic issues in national security policymaking. The Clinton Administration created a National Economic Council tasked with cooperating closely with the NSC on international economic matters. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the Bush Administration established a Homeland Security Council. Both of these entities overlap and coordinate with the NSC, but some observers have advocated more seamless organizational arrangements.
The U.S. Cybersecurity Coordinator and Director of National Intelligence both work with the council.
The NSC drafts, coordinates, and approves National Security Presidential Directives (NSPDs), which are an instrument for communicating Presidential decisions about U.S. national security policy.
Presidential Policy Directive-1, signed on February 13, 2009, directs multiple federal entities to participate in NSC meetings and established interagency policy committees to serve as the main mechanisms for coordination of national security policy. The committees are designed to provide policy analysis for consideration by more senior committees within the NSC system and ensure timely responses by the President.
According to DOD officials, the NSC approved an Information and Communications Infrastructure Interagency Policy Committee (ICI-IPC) in March 2009. Officials further stated that the ICI-IPC subsequently approved a subcommittee to focus on international cyberspace policy efforts (International Sub-IPC). Officials from the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, State, and the Treasury, as well as officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Federal Communications Commission stated that they participate in the International Sub-IPC, where they coordinate international cyberspace-related policy efforts.