Office of the Historian

29. National Security Study Memorandum 581

Washington, May 26, 1969.
  • TO
    • The Secretary of State
    • The Secretary of Defense
    • The Director of Central Intelligence
    • The Director, Office of Emergency Preparedness
  • SUBJECT
    • Planning Assumptions for Civil Emergency Preparedness

The President has directed the preparation of a study of the planning assumptions for civil emergency preparedness for consideration by the National Security Council. The study should recommend [Page 93] specific planning assumptions and guidance to meet the full range of civil emergency situations which may face the United States. In this regard, it should reexamine the planning assumptions contained in “Guidance for Civil Emergency Preparedness,” issued in April 1966 by the then-Office of Emergency Planning.

To conduct the study, the President has directed the establishment of an NSC Ad Hoc Group, under the chairmanship of the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, with representatives of the following: Secretary of State; Secretary of Defense; Director of Central Intelligence; Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Other departments and agencies may be invited to participate at the discretion of the chairman.

The study should be submitted by September 1 for consideration by the NSC Review Group.

Henry A. Kissinger
  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 365, Subject Files, NSSMs, Nos. 43–103. Confidential. Copies were sent to Mayo, DuBridge, Gerard Smith, Wheeler, and Paul W. McCracken, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers.↩