National Security Files (#4)

Introductory Material
     Openings
     Using the Collection
     Declassification
     Records of mandatory review declassification actions
     Preliminary Collection Description

NATIONAL SECURITY FILES
1961-1963

Introductory Note to Researchers

This preliminary register to the National Security Files (NSF) is a working paper for a collection which is still being processed by the Library staff. Processing has been complicated by the size of the collection (approximately 470 boxes) and the national security classification of approximately 85 percent of the documents.

Openings

A list of the folders/volumes follows. Many of these folders have not yet been processed and are currently unavailable for research use. The files are generally processed and opened in increments by subseries (e.g. Bolivia is a subseries of the NSF:Countries series; Space Activities is a subseries of the NSF:Subjects series).

i  Indicates unprocessed materials.
i+ Indicates an unprocessed folder that contains some documents made available as the result of special review.

Researchers who wish to be notified of the opening of folders/volumes should complete the Openings Notification Request form available in the Library's Research Room or from the Library's Foreign Policy Unit.

Using the Collection

Before requesting boxes from this collection, researchers should check the National Security Files Card File in the Research Room to determine if the material requested is open for research. As each new folder is opened to research, a card with the folder title, box number and date of opening is added. The newly opened folder contains any unclassified or declassified documents and a withdrawal sheet which lists documents removed for national security or in accordance with other restrictions.
The card file will be supplemented with an on-line version of this finding aid which will list the folder titles of the processed portions and the volume/folder titles of the unprocessed portions. We expect this to be available by the end of 1995.

Declassification

New material is added to the collection quarterly as documents are declassified. All declassification review actions are recorded above the document description on the appropriate withdrawal sheet, and declassified or sanitized documents are filed in the open folder.

Records of mandatory review declassification actions

The Library has produced comprehensive annual lists of all Library materials declassified or sanitized through the mandatory review process for calendar years 1993 and 1994. These comprehensive lists may be requested through interlibrary loan, from the Library's Research Room or purchased from the Library's Foreign Policy Unit. Prior to 1993 the record of mandatory review actions was maintained in Notebooks of Mandatory Review Actions available in the Research Room. The notebooks are organized within each fiscal year by collection and series. Records for the current year are now maintained in this manner until the comprehensive list is produced.

Suzanne Forbes
Archivist, Foreign Policy Materials
Revised, 9/95

Preliminary Collection Description
 
The National Security Files (NSF) are the working files of McGeorge Bundy, the Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs during the Kennedy administration. An integral part of the papers of John F. Kennedy, the National Security Files were included in the general deed of gift of these papers by the executors of the President's estate in 1965. Following the organization of the first shipment of NSF material received by the Library (Boxes 1-397), additional increments were received from the National Security Council via the National Archives in Washington. Some of this material has been integrated into the collection including the McGeorge Bundy Correspondence Series (Boxes 398-405), The Paramilitary Study Group Report [Taylor Report] (Box 61A), Special Group Augmented (Box 319) and the Skybolt Report (Box 322). Preliminary descriptions and the approximate volume of the remainder of this material is given at the end of the series descriptions below. Approximate linear feet of material in the complete collection: 235 .

The National Security Files are currently arranged in the series described in the following pages and preliminary folder title lists. Within the series the papers are arranged topically in subseries. In some of the larger subseries there are further divisions into: "General", "Cables" and "Subjects". Within folders the documents are generally arranged in chronological order except where documents were originally bound together.

While some of the documents were originated by the National Security Council staff, the most of the material, which consists of memoranda, letters, reports, cables, formal studies and informal think pieces, originated in the various executive departments and agencies, foreign countries and, occasionally, by private citizens. The majority of the documents were originated in the Department of State, with a lesser proportion of items from the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense as well as other agencies. Documents authored by the NSC staff are concentrated in the Meetings & Memoranda Series and scattered throughout the remainder of the series. Approximately 85 percent of the documents were originally classified in accordance with law and executive order protecting national security information and materials.

The national security staff under McGeorge Bundy was a markedly different operation from that under Robert Cutler and James Lay during the Eisenhower administration. The Operations Coordinating Board was abolished by Executive Order 10920 of February 18, 1961, and the previously sharp distinctions between planning and staff personnel and functions were deliberately blurred to gain integration of purpose. The National Security Council itself came to be regarded as a more specialized ad hoc forum for the discussion of critical issues rather than a routine meeting for ratifying decisions. The staff size was considerably decreased.

The following NSC staffers contributed some of the memoranda and reports found in these files. Their major areas of responsibility/interest are briefly outlined below.
 
Mc George Bundy - Special Assistant for National Security Affairs
Walt W. Rostow - Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs 1/61-11/61
Carl Kaysen - Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs 11/61-11/63
Bromley K. Smith - Executive Secretary of the National Security Council
A. Russell Ash - NSC personnel and security matters
Samuel E. Belk - UN Affairs, Africa (South of Sahara)
William Brubeck - Africa
Gordon Chase - Cuba, Latin America
Chester V. Clifton - Military Aide to the President
J. Patrick Coyne - Internal Security
Ralph A. Dungan- Latin America
Michael Forrestal - Southeast Asia, Far East
Charles Johnson - Nuclear Matters
David Klein - Europe (UN, NATO), Canada
Robert Komer - Middle East, MAP, North Africa, NATO
L.J. Legere - Assistant to Maxwell Taylor; military policy; NATO
Henry Owen - East-West Negotiations, Berlin
Marcus G. Raskin -Disarmament, Nuclear Testing
Harold M. Saunders - Civic action, MAP, Africa
Tazewell Shepard - Naval Aide to the President
Maxwell Taylor - Special military assistant to the President

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Richard Goodwin, Theodore C. Sorensen and Myer Feldman, although responsible for matters outside the normal purview of the national security staff, often had specific assignments that involved them in the work of Bundy's staff.

Several individuals participated from time to time as consultants, such as Richard E. Neustadt, Henry A. Kissinger, John J. McCloy, Adolph Berle and Dean Acheson.

Administrative support was provided by principal secretaries Alice Boyce ("ab") and Pauline A. Yates ("pay"), also Mildred Zayac. Lois Moock was the administrative officer in charge of personnel matters and logistics.

List of Series
Series 1. Countries
Series 2. Regional Security
Series 3. Trips and Conferences
Series 4. Departments and Agencies
Series 5. Subjects
Series 6. Meetings and Memoranda
Series 7. Chester V. Clifton
Series 8. Carl Kaysen
Series 9. William H. Brubeck
Series 10. Ralph A. Dungan
Series 11. McGeorge Bundy
Series 12. Robert W. Komer
Series 13. Henry Kissinger
Series 14. Charles Johnson
Series 15. Boards, Committees, and Commissions
Series 16. NSC Administrative Files
APPENDICES
Index to National Security Council Meetings
Index to Standing Group Meetings
Index to ExComm Meetings
Index to Meetings on Vietnam
Index to National Security Action Memoranda
Index to Special Group Meetings