National Security Decision Directive (NSDD)

Highest-level documents issued by modern U.S. presidents pertaining to all elements of U.S. national security policy: foreign policy, defense policy, intelligence, and international economic policy, as well as organizational structure and initiatives. These directives are signed or authorized by the president and issued by the National Security Council (NSC). Many recent directives are classified as top secret or higher and have been given different names by different presidential administrations.

Documents from the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, called NSC policy papers, combined a study of a particular subject with policy recommendations. These papers were accepted in their original form and became the basis for policy or were sent back by the NSC for revision. A less formal system was introduced in the Kennedy administration, which instituted the National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM), a series of study directives and decision directives. Study directives are commissioned by the NSC or other government agencies to perform studies and serve as aids to decision making. Decision directives announce policy decisions, but might also ask for studies and reports. Sources for the studies and implementing documents include a wide range of government agencies, including the departments of state, defense, and justice, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

Each administration assigned new names for the directives. Thus, study memoranda and decision directives became presidential review memoranda (PRMs) and presidential directives (PDs) in the Clinton administration. The practice of separating decision and study directives ended when President George W. Bush signed National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) 1 in February 2001. That directive abolished both the presidential decision directives (PDDs) and presidential review directives (PRDs) of the Clinton administration and replaced both with the NSPD series.

A recent variation of security directives came in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC. President Bush designated special presidential directives called home-land security presidential directives (HSPDs) to be issued by the president of the United States with the [Page 502]advice and consent of the Homeland Security Council. The first such directive created the Homeland Security Council, whereas the second changed immigration policies to combat terrorism.