Four weeks into the new government and the National Security Council machinery is still
being put in place and ministers are still getting read into their briefs. The visit by William Hague, Andrew Mitchell and Liam Fox to Afghanistan was important, despite the brouhaha over the
Defence Secretary’s comments. Such a visit was simply not imaginable under the Brown government.
On the other hand, insiders say there is no real difference yet from the NSID committee that Gordon Brown created and the National Security Council that David Cameron has convened – except that the latter meets weekly, producing a torrent of tasks for officials. Permanent Secretaries are meeting regularly to support the NSC, but the subordinate structures are still not in place.
Behind the scenes, Sir Peter Ricketts, the National Security Adviser, is developing options for the NSC structure he will lead.
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