NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL MEETINGS FILE, 1974-77

The NSC Meetings File is one of many subcollections that comprise the National Security Adviser Files. The provenance and nature of the National Security Adviser Files as a whole are described in Appendix A. 

The National Security Council was created in 1947 in response to the increased complexity of national security issues in the post-World War II period and the necessity for coordination of political, military and economic factors in developing and implementing a national security policy.

Every president uses the National Security Council (NSC) in the development of foreign policy to a greater or lesser degree. During the Ford Administration the NSC was the principal forum through which major foreign policy issues were brought to the President for decision. 

During meetings President Ford acted as chairman of the NSC. Statutory members in attendance included the vice president and the secretaries of State and Defense. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff acted as the primary military advisor; the director of the Central Intelligence Agency advised on intelligence matters; and the director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency was the advisor on arms control matters. The assistant to the president for national security affairs (Dr. Henry Kissinger until November 1975, then General Brent Scowcroft) acted as the chief supervisory officer of the NSC system, planning NSC meeting agenda and overseeing the preparation of briefing materials. Other department heads were invited to attend NSC meetings depending on the agenda.

The National Security Council met at the President’s behest to provide him with an opportunity to hear debate between the principals involved concerning various preferred courses of action. Often this would be in response to an National Security Study Memorandum concerning an issue of considerable importance, for example, military aid to Israel or SALT negotiations. The NSC met thirty-nine times during the Ford Administration. Some of the meetings were brief, while a number lasted for more than two hours. The gatherings were usually held in the Cabinet Room.

Meetings often began with an intelligence briefing. Kissinger or Scowcroft would then outline issues and options and the President would ask each attendee for his views and recommendations. Participants stated their positions and often had the opportunity to rebut the views of others in attendance. Some of the discussions were quite detailed and occasionally debates would develop among those in attendance with differing policy preferences.

No taped records of these meetings are known to exist. An NSC staff member, often someone who had staff responsibility for the topic being discussed, took notes and later prepared a formal record of the gathering. This collection is not complete, however. For five of the NSC meetings held during the administration, there are no formal meeting minutes, although those files usually include briefing material and agendas.

Topics discussed during NSC meetings include: the Middle East peace negotiations, aid to Israel, SALT, the Vietnam War, Panama Canal Treaty negotiations, the Helsinki Agreements, Angola, American-Soviet relations, military readiness, Southern Africa, and the intelligence investigations. The minutes also reflect relations between various members of President Ford’s cabinet and advisors.

Related Materials (June 1999)
Many NSC meetings included discussion of National Security Study Memoranda (NSSM) and eventually resulted in a National Security Decision Memoranda(NSDM) signed by the President. A complete file of these documents is available to researchers.