[4][5] The National Security Council was established by the initiative of King Rama VI, whose purpose was to have a military mission to defend the country.

[6] One of the main responsibilities of the NSC since its inception has been to solve problems in the South Thailand insurgency, immigrant, Border control, Transnational crime and terrorism, including using the NSC to manage emergency situations such as political demonstration and disasters.

[8][9] Under Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, NSC has been used as the main agency in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand, with the establishment of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) Operations Center, with the NSC secretary-general as director to integrate all agencies in the country to deal with COVID-19.

During Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 which resulted in an energy and food crisis in Thailand, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has used NSC as the main agency in preparing plans to deal with energy and food crises in the short, medium, and long term.

[11] In 2025, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra use the NSC as a mechanism for collaboration between security agencies to address scam city along the Myanmar–Thailand border.