248. Editorial Note

The President’s memorandum on the “Organization and Management of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Community” (Document 242) directed the staffs of the National Security Council, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, to make appropriate revisions in the National Security Council Intelligence Directives no later than December 1, 1971. On December 1 Kenneth Dam, Assistant Director of OMB, forwarded the revised versions of NSCIDs numbers 1 through 8 to Henry Kissinger, President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs. He noted in his covering memorandum that the revisions were the product of a tripartite joint effort and accommodated “to the greatest extent possible” the views and suggestions of the Departments of Defense and State. (National Security Council, Nixon Intelligence Files, Log Numbered Series, 1971–1973) Andrew Marshall of the NSC staff forwarded the revised NSCIDs to Kissinger under cover of a December 2 memorandum in which he noted that the Departments of Defense and State still had concerns about the revised NSCIDs; Marshall also raised a concern of his own. (Ibid.)

Under cover of a February 11, 1972, memorandum, Dam forwarded newly revised NSCIDs to Kissinger. After noting that NSCIDs numbers 2, 7, and 8 had not been changed since December 1, he explained the revisions made in NSCIDs numbers 1 and 3 through 6 and appended relevant memoranda from the Departments of State and Defense and the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. (Ibid.) Marshall forwarded the revised NSCIDs to Kissinger under cover of a February 11 memorandum in which he recommended two final revisions, which Kissinger accepted. (Ibid.)

The revised NSCIDs became effective February 17: #1. “Basic Duties and Responsibilities,” #2. “Coordination of Overt Collection Activities,” #3. “Coordination of Intelligence Production,” #4. “The Defector Program,” #5. “U.S. Espionage and Counterintelligence Activities Abroad,” #6. “Signals Intelligence,” #7. “Critical Intelligence Communications,” and #8. “Photographic Interpretation.” (Ibid.)