26. National Security Study Memorandum 211
TO
- The Secretary of State
- The Secretary of Defense
- The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
- The Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT
- Vietnam
To facilitate the orderly planning and implementation of policy on Vietnam within the framework of the National Security Council, the President has directed the formation of an interdepartmental, Ad Hoc Group on Vietnam.
This group shall be chaired by the representative of the Secretary of State and shall include representatives of the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Director of Central Intelligence.2 Depending on the issue under consideration, other agencies shall be represented at the discretion of the Chairman. The Group shall perform the following functions:
- 1.
- Preparation of policy and contingency papers for consideration by the NSC Review Group and the NSC. Copies of the papers shall be transmitted to the heads of participating departments and agencies as provided in NSDM 2.3
- 2.
- Discussion of interdepartmental issues concerning Vietnam and decision on issues which can be appropriately settled by the Ad Hoc Group. This should include the planning and coordination, as appropriate, of the Government’s public information policy on Vietnam.
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–207, National Security Study Memoranda, NSSM 21. Confidential. Copies were sent to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of the U.S. Information Agency.↩
- In a February 17 memorandum to Assistant Secretary of State William Bundy, Rogers designated Bundy Chairman of the Ad Hoc Group and delineated procedures Bundy should follow in submitting papers to the NSC Review Group or the National Security Council directly. (Ibid.) Following Bundy’s departure in May 1969, William Sullivan became chairman of the group.↩
- Document 11.↩