ABSTRACT
The first major national capstone document, National Security Decision Directive (NSDD), appeared on 1982. It mandated increasing focus and emphasis on joint strategy, planning, and operations in the military realm. More so, it mandated annual presidential reports on national security strategy, and it triggered a flood of new publications on 'jointness'. In the ongoing context of the Cold War, the Soviet Union remained the central challenger to American security. During the first half of November, NATO conducted its "Able Archer" military staff exercise. The US Navy began to be tasked with a supporting role in the attempt to curtail drug shipments from South America to the markets in the United States. The new president sought a tougher stance against the Soviet Union, as amplified by his support for the controversial Strategic Defense Initiative and a more aggressive rhetoric. The Reagan administration rushed out its first National Security Strategy (NSS) in January 1987, soon after Goldwater–Nichols was signed into law.
