National Security Decision Directive 84
National Security Decision Directive 84 (NSDD 84) was a policy implemented during the Reagan Administration in response to concerns about unauthorized disclosures of classified information that were perceived to be damaging to U.S. national security. This directive required government employees to report any media interactions and mandated investigations into suspected leaks, allowing for the use of polygraph tests. It impacted a significant number of individuals—approximately four million—including many private defense contractors. NSDD 84 also necessitated that over 290,000 government employees sign nondisclosure agreements, which included a prepublication review process for any articles or lectures they intended to publish.
The directive sparked considerable controversy among journalists, civil liberties groups, federal employee unions, and lawmakers, who criticized it for bypassing typical legislative procedures and raising issues related to freedom of speech and privacy. Critics were particularly concerned about the implications of prior restraint and censorship inherent in the prepublication review requirements. In 1984, due to congressional pressure, the administration suspended the prepublication review provision, but some oversight mechanisms remained in place. Despite the suspension, a significant number of materials continued to be submitted for review, highlighting ongoing debates over the balance between national security and individual rights.
National Security Decision Directive 84
Declared: March 11, 1983
Place: Washington, D.C.
Significance: This declaration extended to all federal government agencies the same strict restrictions on disclosure of classified information that previously applied to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Ronald Reagan won election to the presidency in 1980 by presenting himself as a citizen-politician, an outsider sent to Washington to restore government to its proper path. He and his conservative followers believed that both the media and agencies of the executive branch controlled by their liberal opponents were anxious to undermine the Republican administration’s conservative programs. The Reagan Administration saw evidence of such hostility in the many “leaks” of government documents to the press—even though many of those complaining about such disclosures were believed to be among the biggest document leakers.
The administration issued NSDD 84 in response to a report by an interagency committee formed in 1982 by Attorney General William French Smith. The committee, which had representatives from the CIA and the departments of State and Defense, said that unauthorized disclosure of classified information was damaging U.S. national security interests. The directive required government employees to report all their media contacts to their agencies. It also mandated that all suspected leaks be formally investigated, and it authorized using polygraph tests in such probes.
NSDD 84 affected nearly four million persons, more than a million of whom were employed by private defense contractors. The directive also required more than 290,000 government employees who had access to certain levels of classified material to sign nondisclosure agreements requiring them to submit for clearance any lectures that they planned to give, or any articles or books—including fiction—that they wished to publish.
NSDD 84 caused an uproar among journalists, federal employee unions, civil liberties groups, and members of Congress. Critics resented the fact that such directives set government policies without going through normal legislative processes, and that they—unlike executive orders—did not have to be published in the Federal Register. These opponents feared that the reporting of media contacts and polygraph testing would lead to infringement of the rights of freedom of speech and of privacy. The prepublication review process raised questions of prior restraint and censorship.
In September, 1984, under pressure from Congress, the administration suspended NSDD 84’s prepublication review provision, but left in place a 1981 requirement that all government employees with high-level security clearance sign contracts holding them to lifetime promises to submit material for prepublication review. A 1986 congressional study found that suspension of the NSDD 84’s prepublication review requirement did not end censorship. In 1984 alone 21,718 books, articles, speeches, and other materials were submitted for agency prepublication review; a thousand more were submitted in 1985. By December 31, 1985, more than 240,000 persons had signed the agreement, in either its 1981 or 1983 version.