ABSTRACT
The government's intelligence program is carried on as a subordinate function within the structure of the National Security Council (NSC). In the Reagan administration the NSC staff is made up of people from various civilian agencies of the government, including the military, and of persons on leave from the academic profession or from private organizations specializing in certain aspects of national security policy. Organization of the NSC to ensure involvement of the departments and agencies can be handled in a number of ways. President Reagan has elected to use a series of committees or groups. The NSC serves as the President's clearinghouse for many policy considerations, and its staff is his personal staff for national security matters. In 1956, in response to a proposal by the Hoover Commission, President Eisenhower established a Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities to conduct independent evaluations of the US foreign intelligence program.
