National Defence and Security Council
The National Defence and Security Council (Burmese: အမျိုးသား ကာကွယ်ရေးနှင့် လုံခြုံရေး ကောင်စီ, Burmese pronunciation: [əmjóðá kàkwɛ̀jé n̥ḭɴ lòʊɴdʑòʊɴjé kàʊɴsì]; abbreviated NDSC) is an eleven-member national security council responsible for security and defence affairs in Myanmar. Though the president is the chief executive of the government of Myanmar, the 2008 Constitution reserves certain important executive powers for the NDSC and certain actions of the president and the Tatmadaw (military) require approval by the NDSC. Of the 11 members, the commander-in-chief of defence services appoints 5 members and controls 6 votes. The NDSC nominates the candidate for commander-in-chief, meaning the sitting commander-in-chief has the power to choose his successor and the Tatmadaw is guaranteed the permanent ability to run itself with no oversight from the elected government. The NDSC's existence is enshrined in Chapter V of the Constitution of Myanmar, and it was formed on 31 March 2011.
| အမျိုးသား ကာကွယ်ရေးနှင့် လုံခြုံရေး ကောင်စီ [əmjóðá kàkwɛ̀jé n̥ḭɴ lòʊɴdʑòʊɴjé kàʊɴsì] | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 31 March 2011 |
| Type | National security council |
| Jurisdiction | Government of Myanmar |
| Headquarters | Naypyidaw |
| Agency executive |
|
| Myanmar portal |
After President Win Myint refused to call a meeting of the NDSC to address the Tatmadaw’s baseless allegations of massive voter fraud in the 2020 general election, the Tatmadaw under the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing executed a coup on 1 February 2021, removing Win Myint and installing Myint Swe as Acting President so he could call a meeting of the NDSC and transfer state power to Min Aung Hlaing. The NDSC has since continued to serve as the purported basis of legitimacy for Min Aung Hlaing’s military dictatorship.
The NDSC's constitutionally enshrined roles include expansive powers:
- Recommend pardonees for the President to grant amnesty
- Approve the President's act of severing foreign diplomatic relations
- Coordinate with the President to take military action against aggressors
- Approve the Tatmadaw's ability to conscript citizens
- Nominate a candidate for Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services, to be appointed by the president
- Coordinate with the President in declaring a state of emergency
- Exercise legislative, executive and judiciary powers during a state of emergency
- Exercise sovereign power during a state of emergency