National Security Act / National Security Adviser / National Security Agency

NSA Full Form in English, letter by letter

NSA is the National Security Act, India's preventive detention law, and also the National Security Adviser or the US National Security Agency.

NSA Full Form in Indian Languages

NSA has three common readings: the National Security Act, the National Security Adviser and the American National Security Agency. The Act is the one shown below in six Indian languages.

India's National Security Act, 1980

In Indian news, NSA usually means the National Security Act, 1980. It is a preventive detention law: the government can order a person to be held, without a trial and without a charge, if it believes the person may act against the security of the state, public order, India's relations with foreign powers, or the supply of services essential to the community.

The Act came after earlier preventive detention laws, including the Preventive Detention Act of 1950 and the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) of 1971, which was repealed in 1978. Preventive detention is allowed by Article 22 of the Constitution, but with safeguards that the Act spells out.

Who can order detention and for how long

Orders can be issued by the central or state government, and also by a District Magistrate or a Commissioner of Police where the state has authorised them. An order made by a District Magistrate lasts only twelve days unless the state government approves it, and the state must report such orders to the central government.

The longest a person can be held under one order is twelve months from the date of detention, though the government may revoke the order earlier. The detaining authority must tell the detainee the grounds, normally within five days and in exceptional cases within ten, so that he or she can make a representation against it.

A detainee or a relative can make a representation to the government and to the Advisory Board. If the detention is found unlawful, the High Court can order release through a habeas corpus petition.

The Advisory Board and its deadlines

The state government must place the case before an Advisory Board within three weeks of detention. The Board has three members who are, or have been, High Court judges, and the chairperson must be a sitting High Court judge. It must send its report within seven weeks of detention, and if the Board finds no sufficient cause, the order must be revoked.

A detainee cannot be represented by a lawyer before the Board. The right to be produced before a magistrate within twenty-four hours, which Article 22 gives to ordinary arrestees, does not apply to preventive detention, so the usual steps of the Code of Criminal Procedure do not follow. High Courts hear challenges through habeas corpus petitions and have quashed many orders where the grounds were vague or the delay unexplained.

NSA, UAPA and ordinary criminal law

Students and readers often confuse these. The National Security Act is preventive: the person is held on the suspicion of what he or she might do. UAPA, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the criminal codes deal with specific offences and lead to a trial. A person held under NSA has not been convicted of anything.

State governments have invoked the Act in cases of communal violence, organised crime and large-scale illegal activity. Court orders in such cases often turn on whether the government supplied the grounds on time and whether the detaining officer applied his mind to the facts.

National Security Adviser, the other NSA in Indian headlines

The National Security Adviser is the Prime Minister's principal adviser on national security. The post was created in 1998 and the first holder was Brajesh Mishra. The adviser works with the National Security Council Secretariat and is often seen at talks with foreign counterparts. If a headline says 'NSA meets his counterpart', this is the meaning.

The adviser is an appointed official, not a law and not an agency that can detain anyone.

The American National Security Agency

The United States National Security Agency was established in November 1952. It is based at Fort Meade, Maryland, and works on signals intelligence, meaning the collection and analysis of foreign communications, and on protecting US government communications with cryptography. For years officials hardly acknowledged its existence, which led to the joke that NSA meant 'No Such Agency'.

Its profile changed in June 2013, when contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents about programmes such as PRISM and the bulk collection of telephone records. The USA Freedom Act of 2015 ended bulk collection of American phone records, while collection of foreign communications under Section 702 of the law on foreign intelligence surveillance continued.

Which NSA is meant depends on the sentence. A court case about detention points to the National Security Act, a diplomatic meeting points to the Adviser, and a story about surveillance points to the American agency.

NSA Full Form: Common Questions