ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the daunting issue of the nature of national security and explores the development of the National Security Council (NSC) and its Staff from Harry Truman to Richard Nixon. An in-depth look at the NSC Staff must begin with a review of the concept of national security itself a discussion of the formation and evolution of the NSC as an institution. The charter of the NSC created the NSC to “enable the military services and other departments and agencies of the government to cooperate more effectively in matters involving the national security.” The history of the NSC breaks down into four segments: the conceptual period, the birth, the growth period, and institutional maturity. The actual formulation of the NSC grew out of yet another bureaucratic maneuver, the so-called “Forrestal revenge.” One of the most widely held views among students of national security is that the NSC is first and foremost a product of the president it serves.
