The (group of people who advise or govern) itself included the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and other members (such as the Director of the CentralIntelligence (service business/government unit/power/functioning)), who met at the White Houseto discuss both long-term problems and more immediate national security serious problems. Asmall NSC staff was hired to coordinate foreign policy materials from other (services businesses/government units) for the President. Beginning in 1953 the President's Assistant forNational Security Affairs directed this staff. Each President has given the NSC with differentdegrees of importance and has given the NSC staff changing/different levels of independenceand influence over other (services businesses/government units) such as the Departments ofState and Defense. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for example, used the NSC meetings tomake key foreign policy decisions, while John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson preferred towork more informally through trusted associates. Under President Richard M. Nixon, the NSCstaff, then headed by Henry A. Kissinger, was changed from a coordinating body into anorganization that actively started/working at (back-and-forth conversations to agree on something) with foreign leaders and putting into use the President's decisions. The NSC meetingsthemselves, however, were (not happening much) and only confirmed decisions already agreedupon by Nixon and Kissinger.
The act also established the Central Intelligence (service business/government unit/power/functioning) (CIA), which grew out of World War II time in history Office of (related to a plan to reach a goal) Services and small (after the war) intelligence organizations. The CIAserved as the first (or most important) (non-military related) intelligence-gathering organizationin the government. Later, the Defense Intelligence (service business/government unit/power/functioning) became the main military intelligence body. The 1947 law also caused(affecting lots of things in many ways for a long time) changes in the military establishment. TheWar Department and Navy Department merged into a single Department of Defense under theSecretary of Defense, who also directed the newly created Department of the Air Force. However, each of the three branches maintained their own service secretaries. In 1949 the act waschanged/added to the end to give the Secretary of Defense more power over the individualservices and their secretaries.
