National Security Council

National Security Council. Established by the National Security Act of 1947, the National Security Council was created largely by Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, who wanted to ensure that civilian secretaries of the military services as well as the secretary of defense would have close contact with the president.After amendments to the National Security Act in 1949 eliminated the service secretaries, the National Security Council consisted of the president (as chair), the vice president, and the secretaries of state and defense, although other participants were added by succeeding presidents. The council's duty is to “advise the President with respect to the integration of domestic, foreign, and military policies relating to the national security,” and also to “assess and appraise the [nation's] objectives, commitments, and risks in relation to our actual and potential military power.”

Although the National Security Council was originally housed in the Defense Department, Admiral Sidney W. Souers, its first executive secretary, moved it into the Office of the President. President Harry S. Truman actively participated in the council until the Korean War. President Dwight D. Eisenhower added a Planning Board and Operations Coordinating Board to the structure and relied upon it for information and coordination, often leaving the impression that the council actually made national security policy.

Beginning with the administration of President John F. Kennedy, the functions of the National Security Council were for all practical purposes assumed by the national security adviser to the president and a White House staff. Presidents after 1961 had few all‐inclusive council meetings. Instead, they relied on strong national security advisers, such as McGeorge Bundy, Walt Rostow, Henry Kissinger, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, who coordinated policy by chairing interdepartmental groups. President Ronald Reagan briefly turned the National Security Council into an operational agency, which figured in the Iran‐Contra Affair, but the disastrous result seemed likely to assure its future as only an advisory body.
See also Cold War; Federal Government, Executive Branch: Department of Defense; Federal Government, Executive Branch: Department of State; Federal Government, Executive Branch: The Presidency; Joint Chiefs of Staff; National Security Council Document #68.

Bibliography

Anna Kasten Nelson , National Security I: Inventing a Process (1945–1960), in The Illusion of Presidential Government, ed. Hugh Heclo and Lester M. Salamon, 1981, 229–262.
John Prados , Keepers of the Keys: A History of the National Security Council from Truman to Bush, 1991.

Anna Kasten Nelson