National Security Advisor, Nuclear Command Authority & SFC

 National Security Advisor

  • A senior official on the National Security Council of India, and the chief adviser to the Prime Minister of India on national security policy and international affairs.
  • NSA has the same rank as a Union Cabinet Minister.
  • The post has high vested powers, so the NSA is a highly prominent and powerful office in the Government of India. All NSAs appointed since the inception of the post in 1998 belong to the either Indian Foreign Service or to the Indian Police Service, and serve at the discretion of the Prime Minister of India.
  • The National Security Advisor (NSA) is tasked with regularly advising the Prime Minister of India on all matters relating to internal and external threats and opportunities to India, and
  • Oversees strategic and sensitive issues on behalf of the Prime Minister.
  • The NSA of India also serves as the Prime Minister's Special Interlocutor with China as well as the envoy to Pakistan and Israel on security affairs.
  • The NSA receives all intelligence (R&AW, IB, NTRO, MI, DIA, NIA) reports and co-ordinates them to present before the Prime Minister.
  • NSA is assisted by the Deputy National Security Advisors (Deputy NSAs).
Nuclear Command Authority
  • The Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) of India is the authority responsible for command, control and operational decisions regarding India's nuclear weapons programme.
  • It comprises a Political Council headed by the Prime Minister of India and an Executive Council headed by the National Security Advisor.
  • The Executive Council gives its opinion to the Political Council, which authorises a nuclear attack when deemed necessary.
  • This mechanism was implemented to ensure that Indian nukes remain firmly in civilian control and that there exists a sophisticated Command and Control (C2) mechanism to prevent their accidental or unauthorised use.
  • The directives of the NCA are to be operationalised by the Strategic Forces Command under the control of a Commander-in-Chief of the rank of Air Marshal (or its equivalent) in charge of the management and administration of the tactical and strategic nuclear forces.
  • The NCA may be seen as the first stage in the development of an effective and robust Command and Control (C2) and Indications-and-Warning (I&W) systems and infrastructure for its strategic nuclear forces.
Strategic Forces Command (SFC)
  • The Strategic Forces Command (SFC), sometimes called Strategic Nuclear Command, forms part of India's Nuclear Command Authority (NCA).
  • It is responsible for the management and administration of the country's tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile.
  • It was created on 4 January 2003 by the Vajpayee Government
  • It is the responsibility of the Strategic Forces Command to operationalize the directives of the NCA under the leadership of a Commander-in-Chief who is a three-star rank officer.
  • It will have the sole responsibility of initiating the process of delivering nuclear weapons and warheads, after acquiring explicit approval from the NCA.
  • The exact selection of the target area shall be decided by the SFC through a calibrated, cumulative process involving various levels of decision-making, and with formal approval by the NCA.
  • Since its inception, the SFC’s command, control and communication systems have been firmly established, and the command has attained a high state of operational readiness.
Armed Force Strength
*Governing body of all above force is Ministry of Defence.

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