National Security Action Memoranda (NSAM)

National Security Action Memoranda (NSAM) are documents that were issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson or by his national security advisors, McGeorge Bundy or Walt W. Rostow, to federal agencies to either relay policy statements or to request action programs. The 99 NSAMs of the Johnson administration were issued between November 26, 1963, and October 18, 1968. Topics of the NSAMs covered a wide range of national security issues, including international relations, trade, nuclear energy, nuclear weapons, Vietnam, and NATO policies. Photocopies or carbon copies of the original NSAMs are located in the National Security File, National Security Action Memorandums File in the holdings of the Johnson Library. Links to the scanned images of the NSAMs appear below. The majority of the documents are one to two pages in length, although a few are up to five pages long. Some of the memoranda have not been declassified in full; in those cases, the documents which have been scanned have portions deleted. The NSAM File also contains supporting documents and reports which may be referred to in the NSAM. For more information on these additional materials in the files, contact the Johnson Library Archives staff.

Last Updated July 11, 2006