Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 259 › Conversation 259-001

Nixon & Kissinger on National Security Council and Security clearances

Monday, June 28, 1971 · 1:40 PM–2:47 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 3 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation259-001 on Tape 259 (tape position 00:00:41–00:03:47)StartMonday, June 28, 1971 at 1:40 PMEndMonday, June 28, 1971 at 2:47 PMRecording deviceOld Executive Office BuildingSourceNixon Library record for 259-001 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss a sensitive special project intended to curb government leaks and centralize control over security clearances. Nixon instructs Kissinger to coordinate with General Alexander Haig to inventory individuals holding clearances and potentially revoke them, specifically excluding the State and Defense Departments from the deliberation process. The President emphasizes his intention to issue an immediate executive directive without consulting other agencies to ensure strict adherence to these new security protocols.

Audio

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Position in tape: 00:00:41 – 00:03:47

259a.mp3

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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I had a project which I'd like for you to turn over to Al.
It's in his province.
Let me tell you what I think it is.
I think you have great possibilities.
I want a total reexamination in the government of the top secret Clemson system.
Who has now, and my point is I'm going to arbitrarily order a revocation and I'll re-serve the State Department for the revocation of all 10%, something like that.
That's my point.
Arbitrarily.
I'll say it.
I'll say it.
The second thing, I want to know who has furnishes outside of the building.
For example, does Wiesner have a furnace?
I'll withdraw that.
Do you understand?
Yeah.
Now, now, now, now, this is something that I want.
I don't think you'll listen to Elvis on this.
My point is, can we get, can we get a hold of, uh, we haven't, we haven't gone forward yet on the log or something.
This, of course, would be perfect to log.
I agreed to it.
I agreed to it a month ago.
On this, I want this to be put forward post-paste, because I would like to issue an order immediately, and I'm going to just put it out without any discussion.
I'm not going to have an NSC meeting.
I'm not going to ask the State Department or the Director to say, I hereby order that thing.
Understand?
And look at, yeah, yeah.
And how many people, I don't know how many in the state have a proxy from there.
How many defense have a proxy from there?
How many of them?
And I said, I want people, I want to deduce to this number, to this number.
You know what I mean?
And you can pick the number, but I, I, I, I, I'm not sure it was ordered to be deduced.
I'd cut them off there, but look on the inside.
That way we can then, instead of having an error of paper leaks, they say, well, there are 500 that have been cleared.
We can tell right now there's only 100 people.
Am I right?
... ... ... ...

NARA Description

On June 28, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:40 pm and 2:47 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 259-001 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 259-1

Date: June 28, 1971
Time: Unknown between 1:40 pm and 2:47 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger

     Special project
          -General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
          -Inventory of people with security clearances
                -Possible revocation
                     -Department of State
                -[Forename unknown] Wiedner [sp?]
          -Richard M. Helms
          -Lieutenant General Vernon A. Walters
          -Presidential directive
          -National Security Council [NSC]
          -Department of State, Department of Defense
          -Leaks

Also recorded on June 28, 1971

  • 259-002 1:40 PM · 57 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:40 pm and 2:47 pm.
  • 259-003 1:40 PM · 24 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 1:40 pm and 2:47 pm.
  • 531-001 1:40 PM · 2 min — H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:40 pm and 4:32 pm.
  • 006-002 2:47 PM · 14 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 2:47 pm to 2:48 pm.
  • 259-004 2:47 PM · 23 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:47 pm to 2:48 pm.
  • 006-003 2:48 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at 2:48 pm.
  • 259-005 2:48 PM · 18 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at 2:48 pm.
  • 006-004 2:49 PM · 16 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods talked on the telephone from 2:49 pm to 2:50 pm.

All 69 conversations from June 28, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 259-001, June 28, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/259-001 (accessed October 5, 2026).