National security policy documents issued by the President or his National Security Advisor are among the most important historical documents concerning the national security policies of the United States. Issued through the National Security Council, these memorandums and directives provided guidance to the appropriate agencies and departments for the execution and formulation of national security policy.
The National Security Council is making this list available as a public service. It is the first time that a comprehensive list of nearly all key national security policy documents issued from the Kennedy through the Bush Administration has been made available to the public, as well as a list of NSC Intelligence Directives for the 1947-1975 time period.
Lists of key national security policy documents are organized into the following series:
To view a document list just click on the series title.
NATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTIVES (NSD)
[Bush Administration, 1989-93]
NATIONAL SECURITY REVIEWS (NSR)
[Bush Administration, 1989-93]
NATIONAL SECURITY DECISION DIRECTIVES (NSDD)
[Reagan Administration, 1981-89]
NATIONAL SECURITY STUDY DIRECTIVES (NSSD)
[Reagan Administration, 1981-89]
PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVES (PD)
[Carter Administration, 1977-81]
PRESIDENTIAL REVIEW MEMORANDUMS (PRM)
[Carter Administration, 1977-81]
NATIONAL SECURITY DECISION MEMORANDUMS (NSDM)
[Nixon and Ford Administrations, 1969-77]
NATIONAL SECURITY STUDY MEMORANDUMS (NSSM)
[Nixon and Ford Administrations, 1969-77]
NATIONAL SECURITY ACTION MEMORANDUMS (NSAM)
[Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, 1961-69)
Most policy series are unique to one or two administrations. All of the documents in the above policy series are numbered consecutively within each series. Each document description includes the policy document number, title/subject and date of the document. Policy documents with titles that are not currently releasable will have a "Classified Title" reference.
These lists will be periodically updated, and lists for additional policy document series will be added in the future.
Copies of the released documents may be obtained by contacting the respective presidential libraries or the National Archives and Records Administration. Presidential library email addresses: Harry S. Truman Library; Dwight D. Eisenhower Library; John F. Kennedy Library; Lyndon B. Johnson Library; Richard M. Nixon Presidential Materials; Gerald R. Ford Library; Jimmy Carter Library; Ronald Reagan Library; George Bush Library.
Images of the released National Security Decision Directives (NSDDS) for the Reagan Administration are available on the National Archives Information Locator (NAIL) web site (conduct search for NSDD). Some of the presidential libraries, such as the Kennedy Library and the Ford Library (NSDMs & NSSMs), also have images of national security documents on their library web sites.