The National Defense Battalions (Arabic: كتائب الدفاع الوطني; NDB) were an Iraqi Kurdish paramilitary and gendarmerie force.

Under Saddam Hussein, the NDB significantly increased in power and was incorporated into the government's security apparatus, anf played a prominent role in the Iran-Iraq War.

Following the Ramadan Revolution, the Iraqi Ba'ath Party came to power and recruited various Kurdish tribal leaders, allowing them to form militias as long as their allegiance was to Iraq.

The Northern Bureau of the Ba'ath Party was responsible for operating and setting policies of the NDB, as well as reporting on its leaders political activities, arming the group, and maintaining control over the Kurdish conscripts.

[1] The Northern Bureau portrayed the NDB as part of the Ba'athist plan of converting the Kurdish population from tribal peasants into ideal Iraqi citizens.

The management of training camps, education sessions, the pursuit and capture of deserters, and the surveillance of NDB leaders and soldiers, were central to the security operations of the Northern Bureau.

[3] In addition to their counterinsurgency role, the NDB were also seen as a means by which the government could absorb young Kurds, provide them with employment, and prevent or dissuade them from joining the separatists.