National security directives are
presidential directives issued for the
National Security Council
A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...
(NSC). Starting with
Harry Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...
, every president since the founding of the National Security Council in 1947 has issued national security directives in one form or another, which have involved foreign, military and domestic policies. National security directives are generally highly classified and are available to the public only after "a great many years" have elapsed. Unlike
executive orders, national security directives are usually directed only to the National Security Council and the most senior executive branch officials, and embody foreign and military policy-making guidance rather than specific instructions.
Names for national security directives by administration
Presidents have issued such directives under various names.
Truman and Eisenhower administrations
National security directives were quite different in the early period of the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. A 1988
General Accounting Office (GAO) investigation into national security directives left out the directives from the Truman and Eisenhower years because "they were not structured in a way to allow categorization." The study nevertheless made note of two types of directives. The first was "policy papers" which ''could'' contain policy recommendations, in which case the president might decide to approve the policy by writing his signature. A famous example of such a policy paper is
NSC 68. GAO also noted another type of directive called "NSC Actions", which were "numbered records of decisions that were reached at NSC meetings.
Kennedy and Johnson administrations
The
Kennedy administration which took office in 1961 reorganized the NSC and began issuing National Security Action Memoranda (NSAMs). Many NSAMs were signed in Kennedy's name by
National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, although Kennedy sometimes signed them personally.
Lyndon B. Johnson continued issuing NSAMs where Kennedy left off, although issuing only 99 directives as compared to Kennedy's 273.
Reagan administration
A 1986 National Security Decision Directive gave the
State Department authority and responsibility to coordinate responses to international terrorism across government agencies including the
CIA,
DoD, and
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
. This was intended to reduce interagency conflicts which were observed in the response to the
hijacking of the ''Achille Lauro'' cruise ship. The State Department's
Bureau of Counterterrorism continues this coordinating function.
Homeland Security Presidential Directive
After September 11, 2001, George W. Bush issued Homeland Security Presidential Directives (HSPDs), with the consent of the
Homeland Security Council. These directives were sometimes issued concurrently as national security directives.
Secrecy
Regarding the secrecy of presidential directives,
Steven Aftergood of the
Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy stated in February 2008 that:
Of the 54 National Security Presidential Directives issued by the (George W.) Bush Administration to date, the titles of only about half have been publicly identified. There is descriptive material or actual text in the public domain for only about a third. In other words, there are dozens of undisclosed Presidential directives that define U.S. national security policy and task government agencies, but whose substance is unknown either to the public or, as a rule, to Congress.
However, in an unprecedented development, the
first Trump administration ordered their national security directives to be published in the ''
Federal Register
The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the government gazette, official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every wee ...
''.
See also
*
Continuity of Operations Plan
*
National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive (NSPD-51)
*
PDD-62
*
Presidential directive
Citations
General and cited references
*
*
*
*
External links
Presidential Directives and Executive Orders a comprehensive listing of national security directives by the Federation of American Scientists
;National security directives at presidential libraries
National Security Action Memoranda at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
National Security Action Memorandums at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library
National Security Study Memorandaan
National Security Decision Memoranda at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
National Security Study Memorandaan
National Security Decision Memoranda at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
Presidential Review Memorandaan
Presidential Directives at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library
National Security Study Directivesan
National Security Decision Directives at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
National Security Reviewsan
National Security Directives at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library
Presidential Review Directivesan
Presidential Decision Directives at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library
National Security Presidential Directives at the George W. Bush Presidential Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Presidential Directive
Foreign relations of the United States
Presidency of the United States
United States federal law
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...