Why in the News?

In the first official visit from the US since Prime Minister Narendra Modi was re-elected for a third-term, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in Delhi.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• About NSC (Composition, Functions, etc.)
• News Summary (About iCET)

National Security Council:

• The National Security Council (NSC) of India is the principal body responsible for advising the Prime Minister on matters of national security and strategic interests.
• It was established by the former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998, with Brajesh Mishra as the first National Security Advisor.
• Composition of the NSC:
  • Head of the NSC: Prime Minister
    • The Prime Minister oversees all aspects of national security and strategic policy.
  • National Security Advisor
    • The NSA is the primary advisor to the Prime Minister on national security issues.
    • The NSA coordinates with various ministries, agencies, and departments involved in national security.
  • Members of NSC
    • National Security Advisor (NSA),
    • Chief of Defence Staff (CDS),
    • Deputy National Security Advisors,
    • Union Ministers of Defence, External Affairs, Home, Finance, and
    • Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog
• Functions of NSC:
  • Policy Formulation and Coordination
  • Intelligence Assessment
  • Strategic Planning
  • Crisis Management
  • International Security Cooperation
  • Before the NSC was formed, these functions were carried out by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Indo-US NSA Meet:

• India’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, held a bilateral talk with the US’ National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, in New Delhi.
• Both agreed to strengthen cooperation in a range of areas — Defence technology, Space, Artificial Intelligence, High-Performance Computing, critical minerals among others.
• Both also committed to take concrete action in the coming months to address long-standing barriers to bilateral strategic trade, technology, and industrial cooperation, including in the commercial and civil space sector.
• Both the NSAs chaired the second meeting of the India-U.S. initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET).

What is Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET)?

• The Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies is a framework agreed upon by India and the U.S. for cooperation on critical and emerging technologies.
• These emerging technologies include artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors and wireless telecommunication.
• Prime Minister Modi and President Biden first announced the framework on the side lines of the Quad meeting in Tokyo in May 2022.
• It was launched in 2023 to strengthen their strategic partnership and drive technology and defence cooperation.

Focus Areas of iCET:

• Primarily, the iCET seeks to position New Delhi and Washington D.C. as “trusted technology partners” to build supply chains and support the co-production and co-development of items.
• Key Areas Include:
• Setting up a research agency partnership to drive collaboration in areas like Artificial Intelligence;
• Developing a new defence industrial cooperation roadmap to accelerate technological cooperation for joint development and production;
• Developing common standards in Artificial Intelligence;
• Developing a roadmap to accelerate defence technological cooperation and ‘innovation bridge’ to connect defence startups;
• Supporting the development of a semiconductor ecosystem;
• Strengthening cooperation on human spaceflight;
• Advancing cooperation on development in 5G and 6G; and
• Adopting OpenRAN network technology in India.