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of the Department of State.[1] Some of these papers came before the NSC for information or served solely as a basis for discussion. However, others, containing policy recommendations, eventually reached the President. His signature indicated approval of the proposed policy.[2] Also, according to the first NSC executive secretary, if implementing legislation was required for the new policy, it was prepared by the appropriate department(s) and cleared in the usual way through the Bureau of the Budget before submission to Congress.[3] Nonetheless, a new type of presidential directive was in the making. By the time President Dwight D. Eisenhower took office, approximately 100 NSC papers mandated operative policy.[4]
With each succeeding President, national security instruments of varying denominations and character evolved from the NSC policy papers. In general, they were not required to be published in the Federal Register, were usually security classified at the highest level of protection, and were available to the public after a great many years had elapsed, usually at the official library of the President who had approved them. Many of the more recent ones remain officially secret. The national security instruments of the past several administrations are briefly profiled.
NSC Policy Papers.
- ↑ Ibid.; Sidney W. Souers, “Policy Formulation for National Security,” American Political Science Review, vol. 43, June 1949, pp. 539-540.
- ↑ Falk, “The National Security Council Under Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy,” pp. 410-411.
- ↑ Souers, “Policy Formulation for National Security,” p. 541.
- ↑ Robert Cutler, “The Development of the National Security Council,” Foreign Affairs, vol. 34, April 1956, p. 449.
- ↑ Falk, “The National Security Council Under Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy,” pp. 421-422;
Cutler, “The Development of the National Security Council,” p. 450.