NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR. PLANNING AND COORDINATION STAFF FILES, 1972-75

  The NSC Planning and Coordination Staff Files is one of many sub-collections that comprise the National Security Adviser Files. The Planning and Coordination Staff, headed by Richard Kennedy from 1973 to 1975, dealt primarily with politico-military matters but also handled an array of issues including foreign assistance and arms transfer policy.  Its officers were responsible for a full range of government-wide planning and coordination of national security and foreign policy topics within the National Security Council system.  They worked closely with the senior geographic and functional officers in the development of NSSMs and NSDMs and were responsible for:
(1) preparing analytical papers for the President and the National Security Adviser based on those studies,
(2) coordinating political as well as military contingency planning and crisis management and (3) coordinating security assistance program issues.  They were also involved with preparation for meetings of the NSC and its various sub-groups.  The Contingency Plan File is small and fragmentary and focuses on just a few countries.  The most significant materials deal with Peru, Chile, Portugal and Spain.  All records date from August 1974 to March 1975.  Some topics include foreign elections, influence of the Soviet Union and the ASEAN alliance.

  Significant documentation is found in the second series, the Security Assistance File.  The materials, which are all from the Nixon administration, primarily address various forms of security and/or foreign assistance (both military and economic.)  Topics include: aeronautical modernization, the Agency for International Development, authorization bills for the State Department, USIA, Military Assistance Service Fund (MASF), Military Assistance Program (MAP), Senate and House committees dealing with security assistance, and an ACDA conventional arms transfer study.  Countries and regions addressed include: Cambodia, Taiwan, Jordan, Israel, Laos, South Vietnam, Indochina and South East Asia.   There is also background information on a variety of Security Assistance legislation including: The Foreign Assistance Acts of 1971, 1972, 1973; the Foreign Assistance Appropriations Act of 1974; the Department of Defense Supplemental Authorization Act of 1973, the Mutual Development and Cooperation Act of 1973 and the International Development Act.  The material provides an overview of budget negotiations between the executive and legislative branches.

Related Materials (August 2015)
The most closely related materials are in the relevant Presidential Country Files collections and the appropriate NSC Staff files which sometimes include guidelines for dealing with contingencies. Records in the National Security Council Institutional Files also deal with substantive political, military and economic issues of foreign countries.