COLLECTION FINDING AID



NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR.

PLANNING AND COORDINATION STAFF FILES, 1972-75




SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

A small series concerns contingency planning for possible developments in several countries (especially Chile, Peru, Portugal, and Spain). A larger series concerns Security Assistance during Fiscal Year 1974, primarily budget planning, budget decisions, and legislation (authorizations and appropriations). All documents in the latter series date from the Nixon administration.

QUANTITY
1.9 linear feet (ca. 4,000 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession numbers 82-63 and 97-15)

ACCESS
Open, but some materials continue to be national security classified and restricted. Access is governed by the donor’s deed of gift, a copy of which is available on request, and National Archives and Records Administration regulations (36 CFR 1256).

COPYRIGHT
Gerald Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain.

Prepared by William McNitt, December 1997; Revised March 2000; ; Revised by Donna Lehman, August 2015
[s:\bin\findaid\nsc\nsc planning and coordination staff.doc]



INTRODUCTION

            The NSC Planning and Coordination Staff Files is one of many sub-collections that comprise the National Security Adviser Files. The Planning and Coordination Staff, headed by Richard Kennedy from 1973 to 1975, dealt primarily with politico-military matters but also handled an array of issues including foreign assistance and arms transfer policy.  Its officers were responsible for a full range of government-wide planning and coordination of national security and foreign policy topics within the National Security Council system.  They worked closely with the senior geographic and functional officers in the development of NSSMs and NSDMs and were responsible for:

    (1) preparing analytical papers for the President and the National Security Adviser based on those studies,
    (2) coordinating political as well as military contingency planning and crisis management and (3) coordinating security assistance program issues.  They were also involved with preparation for meetings of the NSC and its various sub-groups.   
The Contingency Plan File is small and fragmentary and focuses on just a few countries.  The most significant materials deal with Peru, Chile, Portugal and Spain.  All records date from August 1974 to March 1975.  Some topics include foreign elections, influence of the Soviet Union and the ASEAN alliance.

            Significant documentation is found in the second series, the Security Assistance File.  The materials, which are all from the Nixon administration, primarily address various forms of security and/or foreign assistance (both military and economic.)  Topics include: aeronautical modernization, the Agency for International Development, authorization bills for the State Department, USIA, Military Assistance Service Fund (MASF), Military Assistance Program (MAP), Senate and House committees dealing with security assistance, and an ACDA conventional arms transfer study.  Countries and regions addressed include: Cambodia, Taiwan, Jordan, Israel, Laos, South Vietnam, Indochina and South East Asia.   There is also background information on a variety of Security Assistance legislation including: The Foreign Assistance Acts of 1971, 1972, 1973; the Foreign Assistance Appropriations Act of 1974; the Department of Defense Supplemental Authorization Act of 1973, the Mutual Development and Cooperation Act of 1973 and the International Development Act.  The material provides an overview of budget negotiations between the executive and legislative branches.

Related Materials (August 2015)
The most closely related materials are in the relevant Presidential Country Files collections and the appropriate NSC Staff files which sometimes include guidelines for dealing with contingencies. Records in the National Security Council Institutional Files also deal with substantive political, military and economic issues of foreign countries.


SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Contingency Plan File, 1974‑75.  (Box 1, 0.3 linear feet)
Memoranda, cables, and reports concerning contingency planning for potential developments in several countries during the early part of the Ford administration. The materials reflect the work of the NSC Contingency Planning Working Group, an interagency committee. The largest files concern Chile, Peru, Portugal, and Spain..

Arranged alphabetically by country name.

Security Assistance File (FY 1974), 1972‑74.  (Boxes 2‑5, 1.6 linear feet)
Memoranda, cables, congressional bills, briefing papers, reports, and occasional notes on meetings. The materials all date from the Nixon administration and cover security assistance budgets and legislation for only a single fiscal year. The bulk of the file dates from calendar year 1973, although significant materials from the second half of 1972 and the first half of 1974 also appear. The series covers the security assistance budget planning process in the Executive Branch and also the development in the Legislative Branch of legislation authorizing and appropriating security assistance funds. It concerns both military and economic assistance.

Arranged alphabetically by title and chronologically thereunder.


CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Contingency Plan File

  • Australia
  • Chile / Peru (1)-(3)
  • Italy
  • Korea
  • Portugal (1)-(3)
  • Spain (1)-(2)

Box 2 - Security Assistance File

  • Aeronautical Modernization, September 1972
  • Agency for International Development, April 1972-November 1973 (1)-(3)
  • Arms Control and Disarmament Agency - Conventional Arms Transfer Study, May-August 1973 (1)-(3)
  • Assistance to Taiwan, January 1973
  • Authorization Bill for Resettlement of Russian Jews, May 1972
  • Authorization Bills for State, USIA, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 1972-February 1973
  • Bipartisan Leadership Meeting, May 1, 1973
  • Cambodia, August 1972-September 1973
  • Commitments of Future-Year Security Assistance Funds, September 1972
  • Congressional Ceiling at FY 1972-73 Level
  • CPD Proposal by Country
  • Defense Data and the Annual 620(s) Assessment and Review, November 1973
  • Definitions
  • Department of Defense Supplemental Authorization Act (H.R. 12565), June 1974
  • East Asia and Pacific Security Assistance Program
  • East Asia Regional Development Program, July-August 1972
  • Economic Assistance Provisions - Foreign Assistance Act of 1973 and Foreign Assistance Act of 1974, January 1974
  • Emergency Security Assistance Act of 1974 (Israel and Cambodia), October 1973
  • Excess Defense Articles (EDA), September 1972
  • Foreign Assistance Act of 1971, January 1972
  • Foreign Assistance Act of 1972, April-October 1972

Box 3 - Security Assistance File

  • Foreign Assistance Act of 1973 (S. 1443), November 1972-April 1974 (1)-(11)
  • Functions and Organization of the Office of the Undersecretary for Security Assistance, October 1972
  • FY 1974 Budget - Decisions, May 1972-February 1973 (1)-(2)

Box 4 - Security Assistance File

  • FY 1974 Budget - Submission: Jordan, November 1973
  • FY 1974 Budget - Summary Review, November 15, 1972 (1)-(2)
  • FY 1975 Security Assistance Program - Congressional Strategy, September-December 1973
  • Grant Material Assistance, September-October 1973
  • House Foreign Affairs Committee, July 1973
  • H.J.Res. 636 (Continuing Resolution), January-June 1973
  • H.J.Res. 1331 (Continuing Resolution), October 1972
  • H.R. 8687 (Military Procurement, Research, and Development), November 1971
  • H.R. 9286 - Amendment (Aid to Cambodia and Laos), September 1973
  • H.R. 9526 (Naval Vessel Loan Bill), March 1972
  • Indochina Reconstruction, May 1973-March 1974
  • International Affairs and Finance, December 1972
  • Laos Field Budget Submission, July 1972
  • Laos Program Review, August 24, 1972
  • Meeting on Security Assistance with Mr. Tarr and Admiral Peet, February 1973
  • Military Assistance for Laos and Vietnam, November 1972
  • Military Assistance Program, June 1973-June 1974 (1)-(3)
  • Military Assistance Service Funded (MASF) Budget, October 1972-October 1973
  • Multi-Year Credits for the Philippines

Box 5 - Security Assistance File

  • Mutual Development and Cooperation Act of 1973, May-October 1973 (1)-(5)
  • Notes on Meetings, November 1972-January 1973
  • PL-480
  • Program Decision Memoranda for the Defense Agencies and Defense-Wide Programs, August 1972
  • Proposed Executive Order on “Delegating Certain Authority of the President to the Secretary of State”, March 1974
  • RDT&E Assistance, January 1974
  • S. 2059 (International Development Act), March-April 1974
  • S.Con.Res. 67 (Termination of Assistance Under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961), April 1974
  • Secretary Lairds Concerns on Assistance Funding, January 1973
  • Security Assistance Budget Planning Ceilings, July-August 1972
  • Security Assistance Planning Guidance, May 1972
  • Security Assistance Legislative Issues Meeting, August 3, 1973
  • Security Assistance Program Review Committee Steering Group, September-October 1972
  • Security Assistance Review Schedule, April 1972
  • Senate Appropriations Committee Changes, August 23, 1972
  • Spring Planning Review on “The Future of Foreign Aid”, May 1972
  • State Department Appeal of Security Assistance Budget Decisions, February 1973
  • Vietnam Program Review, August 22, 1972