Sentence:  But he takes his <WSD>bearings</WSD> from the great guidelines of policy , well established precedents , the commitments of the United States under international charters and treaties , basic statutes , and well understood notions of the American people about how we are to conduct ourselves , in policy literature such as country papers and National Security Council papers accumulated in the Department . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  the direction or path along which something moves or along which it lies