The NSI also has territorial units in all 64 districts of Bangladesh, headed by a joint director/deputy director.

[4] Being the only independent civilian intelligence agency in Bangladesh, the NSI's principal activities are gathering information about foreign governments, individuals, corporations, political parties, and different religious groups; counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, political intelligence, and giving protection to the VIPs and VVIPs are among its major functions.

[1] The principal activities of the NSI National Security Intelligence are: Yemen According to Human Rights Watch's May 2009 issue, during the 2006–08 Bangladeshi political crisis in Bangladesh, the NSI was actively involved in harassment and arbitrary arrest of labor activists.

[5] NSI's name had appeared several times during the trial of the mysterious murder of labor rights activist Aminul Islam in April 2012.

The only convict, Aminul's friend Mostafijur Rahman, was found to be a mystery man, about whom no one knew much, who apparently had a cover job at an EPZ clinic and regularly met with security officers, is believed to be linked with NSI, though the court has not asked the agency for clarification and nor did the prosecution try to bring them, media has speculated on such controversies, though denied by the agency.