National security directive#Truman and Eisenhower administrations

Presidents have issued such directives under various names.

National security directives were quite different in the early period of the Cold War. 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."{{sfn|General Accounting Office|1988|page=1}} 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.{{sfn|General Accounting Office|1988|page=2}} 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.{{sfn|General Accounting Office|1988|page=2}}

The Kennedy administration which took office in 1961 reorganized the NSC and began issuing National Security Action Memoranda (NSAMs).{{sfn|Dwyer|2002|page=412}} Many NSAMs were signed in Kennedy's name by National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, although Kennedy sometimes signed them personally.{{cite book|last=Prados|first=John|title=Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA|date=2006|publisher=Ivan R. Dee|isbn=9781615780112|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3OCDelYICIsC&pg=PA8 8]|language=en}} Lyndon B. Johnson continued issuing NSAMs where Kennedy left off, although issuing only 99 directives as compared to Kennedy's 273.{{sfn|General Accounting Office|1988|page=4}}

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. This was intended to reduce interagency conflicts which were observed in the response to the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship.Johnson, Larry C. 2005. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/congress/2005_h/050512-johnson.pdf Terrorism: Why the Numbers Matter]. The State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism continues this coordinating function.

{{main|Presidential directive#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.{{sfn|Relyea|2008|pages=6–7}}

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.{{cite web

|title=The next president should open up the Bush Administration's record

|url=http://niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ask_this.view&askthisid=00321

|last=Aftergood

|first=Steven

|publisher=Neiman Watchdog; Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard

|date=2008-02-07

|access-date=2008-02-12}}

However, in an unprecedented development, the first Trump administration ordered their national security directives to be published in the Federal Register.{{cite news|last1=Aftergood|first1=Steven|title=Trump Broadcasts His National Security Directives|url=https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2017/01/trump-nspm/|access-date=10 October 2017|work=Secrecy News, Federation of American Scientists|date=30 January 2017}}{{cite news|last1=Aftergood|first1=Steven|title=Still No Classified Trump Presidential Directives|url=https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2017/07/no-classified-nspms/|work=Secrecy News, Federation of American Scientists|date=5 July 2017|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=5 October 2017}}

• Continuity of Operations Plan
• National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive (NSPD-51)
• PDD-62
• Presidential directive

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/98-611.pdf|first=Harold C.|last=Relyea|work=Congressional Research Service|date=26 November 2008|id=Order Code 98-611 GOV|title=Presidential Directives: Background and Overview}}
• {{cite web|author=General Accounting Office|date=14 January 1992|title=National security: The use of presidential directives to make and implement U.S. policy: Report to the Chairman, Legislation and National Security Subcommittee, Committee on Government Relations, House of Representatives|id=GAO/NSIAD-92-72|url=https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/gao-nsiad-92-72.pdf|author-link=General Accounting Office}}
• {{cite web|author=General Accounting Office|date=28 December 1988|title=National security: The use of presidential directives to make and implement U.S. policy: Report to the Chairman, Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives|id=GAO/NSIAD-89-31|url=http://www.gao.gov/products/NSIAD-89-31|author-link=General Accounting Office}}
• {{cite journal|volume=29|issue=6|date=November–December 2002|pages=410–419|title=The U.S. Presidency and national security directives: An overview|journal=Journal of Government Information|first=Catherine M.|last=Dwyer|doi=10.1016/j.jgi.2002.05.001}}

{{Wikisourcecat|Presidential Directives (United States Government)}}

• [https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/direct.htm Presidential Directives and Executive Orders], a comprehensive listing of national security directives by the Federation of American Scientists

;National security directives at presidential libraries

• [https://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/National-Security-Memoranda.aspx National Security Action Memoranda], at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
• [https://discoverlbj.org/solr-search?q=&facet=100_s%3A%22National+Security+Files%22+AND+102_s%3A%22National+Security+Action+Memorandums%22 National Security Action Memorandums], at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20171003030608/https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/documents/nationalsecuritystudymemoranda.php National Security Study Memoranda] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20171003030150/https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/documents/nationalsecuritydecisionmemoranda.php National Security Decision Memoranda], at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
• [https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0310/nssm.asp National Security Study Memoranda] and [https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0310/nsdm.asp National Security Decision Memoranda], at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
• [https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/research/presidential_memoranda Presidential Review Memoranda] and [https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/research/presidential_directives Presidential Directives], at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library
• [https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/digital-library/nssds National Security Study Directives] and [https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/digital-library/nsdds National Security Decision Directives], at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
• [https://bush41library.tamu.edu/archives/nsr National Security Reviews] and [https://bush41library.tamu.edu/archives/nsd National Security Directives], at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library
• [https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/collections/show/41 Presidential Review Directives] and [https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/collections/show/40 Presidential Decision Directives], at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library
• [https://www.georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu/en/Research/Digital%20Library/2014-0390-F%20Digitized.aspx National Security Presidential Directives], at the George W. Bush Presidential Library

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