The State Security Council (SSC) presided over the National Security Management System (NSMS) of President P W Botha's apartheid regime in South Africa. Its function was to advise the government on formulating and executing national security policy. Botha himself chaired the SSC, which was served by a secretariat of 100 full-time staff seconded from other government departments. The SSC had four divisions:
- strategy
- strategic communications
- national intelligence interpretation, and
- administration
Below the SSC was a network of regional, district and local committees or Joint Management Committees (JMCs) which reported on the activities and location of political activists so as to form an overall security profile, thus enabling decisions on security action to be taken. Such action included assassination of people opposed to the apartheid government's policies, and the widespread use of abduction, arson, sabotage and torture. The SSC put pressure on the security forces to "engage robustly" against persons and organisations opposed to the government.
Read more about State Security Council: Castigated By The TRC, SSC and Samora Machel, De Klerk and The SSC
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