National Security Council history

Even Truman's overhaul of the machinery in 1949 did not create a National Security Council that fulfilled the role originally envisioned.

Their report, NSC 68, was submitted directly to Truman in February 1950, who sent it to the NSC for a cost analysis.

With the Mutual Security Act of 1951, the newly-created Director for Mutual Security (Harriman) became a statutory member with the right to appoint a Senior Staff member.

Beginning in 1953 the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs directed this staff.

In 1954 NSC 5412 provided for the establishment of a panel of designated representatives of the President and the Secretaries of State and Defense to meet regularly to review and recommend covert operations.

Eisenhower sometimes used trusted NSC staffers to serve as an intermediary to gain information outside the chain of command as he did with Colonel Goodpaster during the Quemoy crisis in 1955.

President Kennedy also added to the responsibilities of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), originally created by President Eisenhower in 1956.

The first staff study of the Jackson subcommittee was released to the press on November 22, 1960.

Bundy's summary of these discussions, dated January 30, 1961, made these points:

In 1962, NSC gained a powerful tool, both symbolic and real, for its implementation of policy when the Situation Room was established in the White House basement.

The National Security Advisor, along with Secretary of State Dean Rusk and a few other key figures, met with the President for lunch almost every Tuesday from February 1964 onward, and this "Tuesday Lunch Group" largely performed the advisory role for which the NSC had been designed.

In February, 1965, as the war in Vietnam was reaching its height, Johnson convened the NSC frequently, but after that month, it seldom met.

Bundy remained in that position until February 1966, when he was replaced by Walt Rostow.

These recommendations were incorporated in National Security Decision Memorandum (NSDM) 2, issued shortly after Nixon's inauguration on January 20, 1969.

Kissinger would replace Rogers as Secretary of State in September 1973, becoming the only person in history to hold that position while remaining National Security Advisor.

President Ford, who assumed office in August 1974, was relatively inexperienced in foreign affairs.

As part of a Cabinet shakeup on November 3, 1975, Ford named Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft, Kissinger's deputy at the NSC, as National Security Adviser.

James E. Carter acceded to the presidency in January 1977 with a promise to reform many of the excesses that had darkened Washington.

In 1978, for example, Brzezinski traveled to Beijing to normalize United States-China relations.

An NSC working group on Afghanistan wrote several reports on the deteriorating situation in 1979, but President Carter ignored them until the Soviet intervention destroyed his illusions.

Vance's resignation following the unsuccessful mission undertaken over his objections to rescue the American hostages in March 1980 was the final result of the deep disagreement between Brzezinki and Vance.

Meese chaired a meeting in February 1981, that revived senior interdepartmental groups (SIGs), first introduced under Johnson.

Deputy National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane replaced Philip C. Habib as the chief United States Middle East negotiator in July 1983, and the National Security Adviser became directly involved in the operations of foreign policy.

In the autumn of 1988, Carlucci was called to the Defense Department to succeed Caspar Weinberger, and for the third time among his six appointments to the position of National Security Adviser during his presidency, Reagan promoted the Deputy.

Vice President George Bush, elected to succeed Reagan, assumed office in January 1989, on the brink of momentous changes in the world.

Robert Gates served as Deputy National Security Adviser under Scowcroft until his appointment as Director of Central Intelligence in 1991.

On January 21, 1993, in PDD 2, President Clinton approved an NSC decision-making system that enlarged the membership of the National Security Council and included a much greater emphasis on economic issues in the formulation of national security policy.

Office of the Historian United States Department of State August 1997

With the launch of an attack against Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, the war became far more than a figure of speech.

Only the players had changed, and this time it was the NSC and the Office of Homeland Security (as it was known prior to March 2003) bickering over control of the White House Situation Room.

In 2005 Power met with Obama, then the junior senator from Illinois, to discuss A Problem from Hell and her views on American foreign policy.