The National Security Council:
A Selected Bibliography
Compiled by Karen E. Kaufmann
Executive Office of the President Library
Washington, D.C.
March 2007
ESTABLISHMENT of the NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
The basic document that establishes the National Security Council is:
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services.
National Security Act of 1947, as Amended through September 30,
1973.Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1973.
The most comprehensive source of information on the creation and development of the National Security Councilthrough 1960, is a collection of hearings and studies compiled by Senator Henry Jackson. It is entitled:
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Government Operations.
Subcommittee on National Policy Machinery. Organizing for National
Security. 3 vols. Washington, D.C.: U.S. GovernmentPrinting Office,
1961.
BOOKS, REPORTS, & DOCUMENTS
Acheson, Dean. Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department. New York: Norton,
1969.
Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World. Changing Minds
Winning Peace: A New Strategic Direction for U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Arab & Muslim
World. Edward P. Djerejian, Chairman. Washington, D.C.: The Advisory Group on Public
Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World, 2003.
Andrianopoulos, Gerry A. Kissinger and Brzezinski: The NSC and the Struggle for Control of US
National Security Policy. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.
Arana, Julio, Jonathan M. Owens, and David Wrubel. Strengthening the Interagency Process:
The Case for Enhancing the Role of the National Security Advisor. Norfolk, Va.: JointForces
StaffCollege, Joint and Combined War Fighting School, 2006.
Best, Richard A., Jr. The National Security Council: An Organizational Assessment.New York:
Nova Science Publishers, 2001.
Bird, Kai. The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, Brothers in Arms: A
Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.
Bjostad, James D., and Sheila F. Hooten. “Preventing Future Shock: A Case for Addressing
Future Threats to America’s National Security.” [Cambridge, Mass.]: JohnF.Kennedy
School of Government,HarvardUniversity, April 2001.
Bock, Joseph G. The White House Staff and the National Security Assistant: Friendship and
Friction at the Water’s Edge. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987.
Boll, Michael M. National Security Planning: Roosevelt through Reagan. Lexington: Ky.:
University Press of Kentucky, 1988.
Bose, Meena. Shaping and Signaling Presidential Policy: The National Security Decision
Making of Eisenhower and Kennedy. College Station, Tex.: TexasA&MUniversity Press,
1998.
Bowie, Robert R., and Richard H. Immerman. Waging Peace: How Eisenhower Shaped an
Enduring Cold War Strategy. New York; Oxford, England: OxfordUniversity Press, 1998.
Brown, Harold. Thinking about National Security: Defense and Foreign Policy in a Dangerous
World. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press Inc., 1983.
Brzezinski, Zbigniew K. Power and Principle: Memoirs of the National Security Adviser, 1977-
1981.New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1983.
Burke, John P., and Fred I. Greenstein. How Presidents Test Reality: Decisions on Vietnam,
1954 and 1965. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1989.
Bush, George, and Brent Scowcroft. A World Transformed. New York: Knopf; Distributed by
Random House, 1998.
Cambone, Stephen A. A New Structure for National Security Policy Planning. CSIS Significant
Issues Series. Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1998.
Caraley, Demetrios. The Politics of Military Unification: A Study of Conflict and the Policy
Process. New York: ColumbiaUniversity Press, 1966.
Carter, Jimmy. Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a President. Toronto, New York: Bantam Books,
1982.
Celada, Raymond J. “National Security Adviser: Accountability to Congress.” Washington,
D.C.: Congressional Research Service, 1986. CRS, 86-1025.
Clark, Keith C., and Laurence J. Legere, eds. The President and Management of National
Security. New York: Praeger, 1969.
Clarke, Duncan L. American Defense and Foreign Policy Institutions: Toward a Sound
Foundation. New York: Harper & Row, 1989.
Cohen, William S., and George J. Mitchell. Men of Zeal: A Candid Inside Story of the Iran-
Contra Hearings. New York: Viking, 1988.
Collins, John M. U.S. Defense Planning: A Critique. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1983.
Commission on the Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government. National Security
Organization. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1949.
______. Task Force Report on National Security Organization. Appendix G. “Eberstadt
Report” of the Hoover Commission. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,
1949.
Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy. Report.
“The Murphy Commission.” Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1975.
Crabb, Cecil V., Jr., and Kevin V. Mulcahy. Presidents and Foreign Policy Making: From FDR
to Reagan. Baton Rouge, La.: LouisianaStateUniversity Press, 1986.
Crabb, Cecil Van Meter, and Kevin V. Mulcahy. American National Security: A Presidential
Perspective. Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 1991.
Cutler, Robert. No Time for Rest. Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, 1966.
Daalder, Ivo H., and I. M. Destler. “A New NSC for a New Administration.” Washington, D.C.:
The Brookings Institution, 2000. Brookings Policy Briefs, 68.
______. “Organizing for Homeland Security.” Statement prepared for the Committee on
Governmental Affairs, United States Senate. Oct. 12, 2001.
Daalder, Ivo H., James M. Lindsay, and James B. Steinberg. “The Bush National Security
Strategy: An Evaluation.” Washington, D.C.: The BrookingsInstitution, 2002. Brookings
Policy Briefs, 109.
David, Charles-Philippe. “’Foreign Policy is Not What I Came Here to Do.’ Dissecting Clinton’s
Foreign Policy-Making.”Montreal, Quebec: Center for UnitedStates Studies of the Raoul
Dandurand Chair of Strategic and Diplomatic Studies, Universityof Quebec at Montreal,
2004. CUSS Occasional Papers, 1.
Davis, Lynn E. “Organizing for Homeland Security.” [Santa Monica, Ca.]: RAND Corporation,
2002.RAND, IP-220.
Davis, Lynn E., Gregory F. Treverton, Daniel Byman, et al. Coordinating the War on Terrorism.
Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, 2004.RAND, OP-110-RC.
Destler, I. M. Presidents, Bureaucrats, and Foreign Policy: The Politics of Organizational
Reform. Princeton, NJ: PrincetonUniversity Press, 1972.
Dockrill, Saki. Eisenhower’s New-Look National Security, 1953-1961. New York: St. Martin’s
Press, 1996.
Donley, Michael. “Rethinking the Interagency System.” McLean,Va.: Hicks & Associates, Inc.,
2005. HAI Occasional Paper, 05-01.
______. “Rethinking the Interagency System: Part 2.”McLean, Va.: Hicks & Associates,
Inc., 2005. HAI Occasional Paper, 05-02.
Draper, Theodore. A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs. New York: Hill and Wang, 1991.
Drew, S. Nelson, ed. NSC-68: Forging the Strategy of Containment. Analyses by Paul H. Nitze.
Washington, D.C.: NationalDefenseUniversity, [1994].
Dulles, Allen Welsh, William Jackson, and Mathias Correa. The Central Intelligence Agency
and National Organization for Intelligence: A Report to the National Security Council. The
“Dulles-Jackson-Correa Report” or “Dulles Report.” Washington, D.C., 1949.
Eberstadt, Ferdinand. Unification of the War and Navy Departments and Postwar Organization
for National Security: Report to James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy. The “Eberstadt
Report.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1945.
Edwards, III, George C., and Wallace E. Walker, eds. National Security and the U.S.
Constitution: The Impact of the System.” Baltimore, Md.: JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press,
1988.
Falk, Stanley, and Theodore W. Bauer. The National Security Structure. Washington, D.C.:
IndustrialCollege of the Armed Forces, 1967. Revised, Washington, D.C.: IndustrialCollege
of the Armed Forces, 1972. Reprint, Washington, D.C.: IndustrialCollege of the Armed
Forces, 1976.
Felix, Antonia. Condi: The Condoleezza Rice Story. New York: Newmarket Press, 2002.
Fish, Joanne M., Samuel F. McCraw, and Christopher J. Reddish. Fighting in the GrayZone: A
Strategy to Close the Preemption Gap. Carlisle, Pa.: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S.Army
WarCollege, 2004.
Garrison, Jean A. Games Advisors Play: Foreign Policy in the Nixon and Carter
Administrations. College Station, Tex.: TexasA& MUniversity Press, 1999.
George, Alexander L. Presidential Decisionmaking in Foreign Policy: The Effective Use of
Information and Advice. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1980.
Graebner, Norman A., ed. The National Security: Its Theory and Practice 1945-1960. New
York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc., 1986.
Hall, David K. “Implementing Multiple Advocacy in the National Security Council, 1947-1980.”
Ph.D. diss., StanfordUniversity, 1982.
Halperin, Morton H. National Security Policy-Making: Analyses, Cases, and Proposals.
Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1975.
Hammond, Paul Y. Organizing for Defense: The American Military Establishment in the
Twentieth Century.Princeton, NJ: PrincetonUniversity Press, 1961.
Hartmann, Frederick H., and Robert L. Wendzel. Defending America’s Security. Washington,
D.C.: Pergamon-Brassey’s International Defense Publishers; Elmsford, N.Y.: distributed by
Pergamon Press, 1988.
Hersh, Seymour M. The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House. New York:
Summit Books, 1983.
Hobbs, Edward H. Behind the President: A Study of Executive Office Agencies. Washington,
D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1954.
Hobkirk, Michael D. The Politics of Defense Budgeting: A Study of Organisation and Resource
Allocation in the United Kingdom and the United States. Washington, D.C.: National
DefenseUniversity Press, 1983.
Hogan, Michael J. A Cross of Iron: Harry S Truman and the National Security State, 1945-1954.
New York; Cambridge, England: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1998.
Hunter, Robert E. Organizing for National Security. Significant Issues Series.Washington,
D.C.: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1988.
______. Presidential Control of Foreign Policy: Management or Mishap?New York:
Praeger, 1982. 2nd Edition, 1987.
Hutchings, Robert L. American Diplomacy and the End of the Cold War: An Insider’s Account
of US Diplomacy in Europe, 1989-1992. Baltimore, Md.: JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press,
1997.
Hyland, William. Mortal Rivals: Superpower Relations from Nixon to Reagan. New York:
Random House, 1987.
Inderfurth, Karl F., and Loch K. Johnson, eds. Decisions of the Highest Order: Perspectives on
the National Security Council. Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 1988.
______. Fateful Decisions: Inside the National Security Council. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004.
Institute for Defense Analyses. International and Social Studies Division. The National Security
Process.2 vols. Arlington, Va.: Institute for Defense Analyses, 1968. IDA, R-150.
Isenberg, David. “The Pitfalls of U.S. Covert Operations.” Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute,
1989. CATO Policy Analyses Paper, 118.
Jablonsky, David, Ronald Steel, Lawrence Korb, Morton H. Halperin, & Robert Ellsworth. U.S.
National Security: Beyond the Cold War.Carlisle, Pa.: Strategic Studies Institute, United
StatesArmyWarCollege, 1997.
Jackson, Henry M., ed. The National Security Council: Jackson Subcommittee Papers on Policy-
Making at the Presidential Level. New York: Praeger, 1965.
Johnson, Loch K. Bombs, Bugs, Drugs, and Thugs: Intelligence and America’s Search for
Security. New York: New YorkUniversity Press, 2001.
Jones, Matthew. Conflict and Confrontation in South East Asia, 1961-1965: Britain, the United
States and the Creation of Malaysia. Cambridge, England: CambridgeUniversity Press,
2001.
Kamath, P.M. Executive Privilege Versus Democratic Accountability: The Special Assistant to
the President for National Security Affairs, 1961-1969. New Delhi, India: Radiant, 1981.
Kanter, Arnold. Vicars and Managers: Organizing for National Security. SantaMonica, Calif.:
RAND Corporation, 1998. RAND, P-7501.
Kissinger, Henry A. The National Security Council. Comment by Henry A. Kissinger.
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970.
______. White House Years. Boston: Little, Brown, 1979.
______. Years of Upheaval. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1982.
Koh, Harold. The National Security Constitution: Sharing Power after the Iran-Contra Affair.
New Haven, Conn.: YaleUniversity Press, 1990.
Korb, Lawrence J. Implementing a New National Security Policy: Options for the Post-9/11
World, Council Policy Initiative. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2003.
Korb, Lawrence J., and Keith D. Hahn, eds. National Security Policy Organization in
Perspective.Washington, D.C.: American EnterpriseInstitute for Public Policy Research,
1981. AEI Special Analysis, 81-1.
Laird, Melvin R. Beyond the Tower Commission. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise
Institute for Public Policy Research, 1987.
Little, Wendell E. White House Strategy-Making Machinery, 1952-1954. Maxwell Air Force
Base, Ala.: U.S.AirUniversity Press, 1954.
Lobel, Aaron. Presidential Judgment:Foreign Policy Decision Making in the White House.
Hollis, NH: Hollis Publishing Company, 2000.
Lord, Carnes. The Presidency and the Management of National Security.New York: Free Press;
London: Collier Macmillan, 1988.
Lowenthal, Mark M. The National Security Council: Organizational History. Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1978.
Lowenthal, Mark M. and Richard A. Best., Jr. The National Security Council: An Organizational
Assessment. [Washington, D.C.]: Congressional Research Service, 1993.
May, Ernest R. American Cold War Strategy: Interpreting NSC 68. Bedford Books in American
History. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 1993.
Meck, John F. “The Administration of Foreign Affairs and Overseas Operations of the United
States Government: A Staff Memorandum on the National Security Council.” Washington,
D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1951.
Menges, Constantine C. Inside the National Security Council: The True Story of the Making and
Unmaking of Reagan’s Foreign Policy. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988.
Moens, Alexander. Foreign Policy under Carter: Testing Multiple Advocacy Decision Making.
Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1990.
Mueller, Karl P., Jasen J. Castillo, Forrest E. Morgan, et al. Striking First: Preemptive and
Preventive Attack in U.S. National Security Policy. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND
Corporation, 2006.
Murray, Williamson, ed. National Security Challenges for the 21st Century. Carlisle, Pa.:
Strategic Studies Institute, U.S.ArmyWarCollege, 2003.
National Security Council (U.S.).Documents of the National Security Council, 1947-1977.
Edited by Paul Kesaris. Washington, D.C.: University Publications of America, Inc., 1980.
______. Documents of the National Security Council. Eighth Supplement. Edited with a guide
compiled by Dale Reynolds. Bethesda, Md.: Congressional Information Service, Inc., 2003.
______.Documents of the National Security Council. Fifth Supplement. Edited by Paul
Kesaris; guide compiled by Blair D. Hydrick. Bethesda, Md.: University Publications of
America,1989.
______. Documents of the National Security Council. First Supplement. Edited by Paul
Kesaris; guide compiled by Kenneth D. Schlessinger. Frederick, Md.: University
Publications of America, 1981.
______. Documents of the National Security Council. Fourth Supplement. Edited by Paul
Kesaris; guide compiled by L. Lee Yanike and Blair D. Hydrick.Frederick, Md.: University
Publications of America, 1987.
______. Documents of the National Security Council. Ninth Supplement. Project coordinated
by Robert E. Lester; guide compiled by Dan Elasky. Bethesda, Md.: LexisNexis, 2006.
______. Documents of the National Security Council. Second Supplement, Edited by Paul
Kesaris; guide compiled by Robert Lester. Frederick, Md.: University Publications of
America, 1983.
______. Documents of the National Security Council. Seventh Supplement. Edited by Paul
Kesaris; guide compiled by Blair D. Hydrick. Bethesda, Md.: University Publications of
America, 1996.
______. Documents of the National Security Council. Sixth Supplement. Edited by Paul
Kesaris;guide compiled by Blair D. Hydrick. Bethesda, Md.: University Publications of
America,1993.
______. Documents of the National Security Council. Third Supplement. Edited by Paul
Kesaris;guide compiled by Martin Schipper. Frederick, Md.: University Publications of
America,Inc., 1985.
______. Index to Documents of the National Security Council. Bethesda, Md.: University
Publications of America, 1994.
______. Minutes of Meetings of the National Security Council. First Supplement. Edited by
Paul Kesaris;guide compiled by Maria Schlesinger. Frederick, Md.: University Publications
of America, Inc., 1988.
______. Minutes of Meetings of the National Security Council. Fourth Supplement. Project
coordinated by Adam Beckwith;guide compiled by Joseph C. Gutberlet. Bethesda, Md.:
LexisNexis, 2005.
______. Minutes of Meetings of the National Security Council. Second Supplement. Edited by
Paul Kesaris; guide compiled by Blair D. Hydrick. Bethesda, Md.: University Publications
ofAmerica, 1989.
______. Minutes of Meetings of the National Security Council. Third Supplement. Edited by
Paul Kesaris; guide compiled by Blair D. Hydrick. Bethesda, Md.: University Publications
of America, 1996.
______. Minutes of Meetings of the National Security Council, with Special Advisory Reports.
Edited by Paul Kesaris;guide compiled by Robert Lester. Frederick, Md.: University
Publications of America, Inc., 1982.
______. Organizational History of the National Security Council during the Truman and
Eisenhower Administrations. Washington, D.C.: National Security Council, 1960. Reprint,
1988.
______. Statutory Functions of the Council. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Security
Council, 1958.
Nerheim, Steven William. “NSC-81/1 and the Evolution of U.S. War Aims in Korea June-
October 1950.” Strategy Research Project. Carlisle Barracks, Pa.: U.S.ArmyWarCollege,
April 10, 2000.
Nixon, Richard M. U.S. Foreign Policy for the 1970s: A New Strategy for Peace. Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970.
______. U.S. Foreign Policy for the 1970s: Building for Peace. Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1971
______. U.S. Foreign Policy for the 1970s: The Emerging Structure of Peace. Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972.
O’Halloran, Michael. “NSC-68 and the Global War on Terrorism.” USAWC Strategy Research
Project. Carlisle Barracks, Pa.: U.S.ArmyWarCollege, March 18, 2005.
O’Hanlon, Michael E., Susan E. Rice, and James B. Steinberg. “The New National Security
Strategy and Preemption.” Washington, D.C.: The BrookingsInstitution, 2002. Brookings
Policy Brief, 113.
Pastor, Robert A. “The Carter Administration and Latin America: A Test of Principle.” Atlanta,
Ga.: TheCarterCenter, 1992.
Patterson, Bradley H., Jr. The White House Staff: Inside the West Wing and Beyond.
Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2000.
Pearson, James C. “Midcourse Corrections for the National Security Adviser.”Ala.: AirWar
College, AirUniversity, Maxwell Air Force Base, 1995.
Pfaltzgraff, Robert L., Jr. National Security Decisions: The Participants Speak. Edited by
Jacquelyn K. Davis. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1990.
Powell, Colin L. My American Journey. With Joseph E. Persico. 1st ed. New York: Random
House, 1995.
Prados, John. Keepers of the Keys: A History of the National Security Councilfrom Truman to
Bush. New York: W. Morrow, 1991.
Preston, Andrew. War Council: McGeorge Bundy, the NSC, and Vietnam. Cambridge, Mass.:
HarvardUniversity Press, 2006.
Preston, Thomas.The President and His Inner Circle: Leadership Style and the Advisory
Process in Foreign Affairs. New York: ColumbiaUniversity Press, 2001.
Radi, David A. “Intelligence Inside the White House: The Influence of Executive Style and
Technology.” Incidental Paper. Cambridge, Mass.: Program on Information Resources
Policy, HarvardUniversity, 1997.
Randolph, Stephen P. Powerful and Brutal Weapons: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Easter Offensive.
Cambridge, Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, 2007.
Report to the President-Elect 2000: In Harm’s Way: Intervention and Prevention. Washington,