Indo-US NSA Meet

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in the News?
• National Security Council
• News Summary
• What is Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET)?
• Focus Areas of iCET

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.

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.

News Summary

• 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 space flight;
  • Advancing cooperation on development in 5G and 6G; and

Adopting OpenRAN network technology in India.

Q1. What is the purpose of the National Defence Academy?

The National Defence Academy is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force train together before they go on to their respective service academy for further pre-commission training.

Q2. What is the role of the Chief of the Defence Staff?

CDS takes charge of leading tri-service agencies and actively contributes to national defence planning. This strategic position, introduced in 2019, plays a crucial role in ensuring seamless coordination among the tri-forces and the integration of their services to enhance national security.

Source: NSAs meet: India, US pledge to deepen partnership in critical and new technologies