The Life and Death of NSSM 200 The Life and Death of NSSM 200 - Index to Contents The Life and Death of NSSM 200 - Index of Contents Stephen Mumford Bio Index of Issues Comments from Reviewers

What is NSSM 200?

NSSM 200 is White House shorthand for National Security Study Memorandum. NSSM 200 was the definitive interagency study of world population growth and its implications for United States global security, requested by President Nixon in 1974. The study was undertaken by the National Security Council, the CIA, the Defense, Agriculture and State Departments, and the Agency for International Development. Among its conclusions: "World population growth is widely recognized within the Government as a current danger of the highest magnitude calling for urgent measures.... There is a major risk of severe damage [from continued rapid population growth] to world economic, political, and ecological systems and, as these systems begin to fail, to our humanitarian values."
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