The NSC System and the Use of NSDMs and NSSMs

National Security Study Memoranda

National Security Decision Memoranda

This web project makes available images of all declassified pages of National Security Study Memoranda (NSSM) and National Security Decision Memoranda (NSDM) issued during the administration of President Gerald R. Ford. The National Security Council and the Ford Library staff have already declassified most NSSMs and NSDMs, but approximately one-quarter are only partially declassified and are represented here by copies from which portions have been excised. Only a few items are still completely classified and not available for research. Please contact the Library for information on the availability of additional holdings concerning the topics discussed in any NSSM or NSDM.

This file of NSSMs and NSDMs appears to have been compiled by the staff of National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft for his reference use. It was not a complete set and has been augmented with declassified photocopies of some missing items provided by the National Security Council.

The study reports which often followed from the NSSMs and led to the NSDMs, often running into hundreds of pages, are not included in this website. Most of them have not yet been declassified.