A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

al body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military att ...

. An NSC is often headed by a national security advisor and staffed with senior-level officials from military, diplomatic, intelligence, law enforcement and other governmental bodies. The functions and responsibilities of an NSC at the strategic state level are different from those of the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, ...

, which is more of a

diplomatic Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents: especially, historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, p ...

forum. Occasionally a nation will be ruled by a similarly named body, such as "the National Security Committee" or "Council for National Security". These bodies are often a result of the establishment or preservation of a military dictatorship (or some other national crisis), do not always have statutory approval, and are usually intended to have transitory or provisional powers. See also:

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

. Some nations may have a similar body which is not formally part of the executive government. For example, the National Security Commission in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

is an organ of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

(CCP), the sole ruling party, and headed by the

CCP general secretary The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader ...

, rather than an organ of the executive government.

NSCs by country

* Algeria:

High Council of Security High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

* Armenia: Security Council of Armenia * Australia: National Security Committee * Austria: National Security Council * Bangladesh: National Committee on Security Affairs * Belgium: * Brazil: National Defense Council * Chile: * China: National Security Commission of the Chinese Communist Party ** Hong Kong: Committee for Safeguarding National Security of Hong Kong * Croatia: National Security Council * Czech Republic:

National Security Council of the Czech Republic The National Security Council of the Czech Republic (Czech: ''Bezpečnostní rada státu České republiky''), abbreviated BRS is a governmental group of the Czech Republic charged with ensuring the security of the country. Order of the Nationa ...

* East Germany: National Defense Council of East Germany * Egypt: * Estonia: National Defence Council * Fiji: National Security Council * France: * Georgia:

National Security Council of Georgia , native_name_a = , native_name_r = , type = Advisory body , seal = , seal_size = 250 , seal_caption = Seal , seal_alt = , logo = , logo_size = , logo_caption = , logo_alt = , image = , image_size = , image_caption = , im ...

* Germany: (''Federal Security Council''), prior to 1969 (''Federal Defense Council'') * Greece: Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence * Ghana: National Security Council * India: National Security Council * Iran, Islamic Republic of:

Supreme National Security Council Supreme National Security Council (SNSC; fa, شورای عالی امنیت ملی ''Showrāye Āliye Amniyate Mellī'' also ''Supreme Council for National Security'') is the national security council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the curren ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

(Republic of China): National Security Council * Thailand: National Security Council * Turkey: National Security Council * Ukraine:

National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC; uk, Рада національної безпеки і оборони України, RNBO or RNBOU) is the coordinating state body of the executive power under the President of Ukrai ...

* United Kingdom: National Security Council * United States:

United States National Security Council The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Ex ...

* Uzbekistan:

National Security Council under the President of Uzbekistan Government of Uzbekistan Military of Uzbekistan Uzbekistan The National Security Council under the President of Uzbekistan (; ) is the central advisory body of the Uzbek government which aides and assists the President in implementation of milita ...

* Vietnam: Council for National Defense and Security

References

External links

NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence
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