National Security Adviser WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM: FORMER PRESIDENT NIXON'S INTELLIGENCE BRIEFINGS 1974-77

The White House Situation Room: Former President Nixon's Intelligence Briefings is one of many sub-collections that comprise the National Security Adviser Files. The provenance of the Ford National Security Adviser Files and an explanation of the designations “Presidential” and “Institutional” are provided in Appendix A.

Soon after the August 9, 1974 transition, President Gerald Ford decided that former President Richard Nixon would continue to receive periodic intelligence briefings on foreign affairs.  This was a courtesy that had been extended to other former Presidents in the past.

President Ford gave White House Counsellor John Marsh oversight over all White House contacts with Richard Nixon and his staff.  Deputy National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft actually gathered the foreign affairs briefing material for President Nixon, sent a copy to Marsh, and then transmitted it to the former President through the White House Situation Room.

According to documents in the folder “Nixon, Richard – Briefings and Press Summaries” in Box 24 of the John Marsh Files:

“President Ford, lacking a normal transition period for his Presidency, felt that he might well require consultation on an emergency basis with Mr. Nixon regarding these matters, and he desired that Mr. Nixon’s advice be based on the most current information.”

In the fall of 1974, most of the briefings were sent to California by either secure fax or teletype (the White House Communications Agency still had staff and equipment in San Clemente).  On three occasions, when WHCA was moving staff between sites, the briefing was delivered by courier on military flights.  On September 20, 1974, a courier carried the briefing on a commercial flight.  It is not clear exactly how the briefings were transmitted after the final shutdown of the WHCA facility in San Clemente on January 14, 1975, but it was probably handled through couriers on commercial flights.

These briefings for President Nixon continued throughout the Ford administration.  Scowcroft originally planned to make a weekly transmission, but the time between briefings often stretched to two weeks or more.  For the month of August 1976 no briefings appear in the collection.

In addition to the security-classified foreign affairs briefings, in the early months after the Nixon-Ford transition the White House Situation Room sent many unclassified documents to San Clemente.  These included White House news summaries, newspaper reports, and wire reports along with occasional schedules, economic briefings, public documents, and a few personal messages for President Nixon.  These documents were sent to California by fax.  None of these unclassified items appear in this collection.

Related Materials (November 2010)
Among the files of the National Security Adviser are several other collections of briefing material maintained by the staff of the White House Situation Room.  Among these are the Presidential Daily Briefings, Evening Reports from NSC Staff, and Noon and Evening Notes.