diff --git a/.changelog/9101.txt b/.changelog/9101.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3b49975b25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/9101.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:feature
+agent: return the default ACL policy to callers as a header
+```
diff --git a/agent/config/runtime.go b/agent/config/runtime.go
index 4183524edc..4acc823faa 100644
--- a/agent/config/runtime.go
+++ b/agent/config/runtime.go
@@ -77,8 +77,8 @@ type RuntimeConfig struct {
 
 	// ACLDefaultPolicy is used to control the ACL interaction when
 	// there is no defined policy. This can be "allow" which means
-	// ACLs are used to black-list, or "deny" which means ACLs are
-	// white-lists.
+	// ACLs are used to deny-list, or "deny" which means ACLs are
+	// allow-lists.
 	//
 	// hcl: acl.default_policy = ("allow"|"deny")
 	ACLDefaultPolicy string
diff --git a/agent/consul/config.go b/agent/consul/config.go
index d333058faa..73db2d2967 100644
--- a/agent/consul/config.go
+++ b/agent/consul/config.go
@@ -268,8 +268,8 @@ type Config struct {
 
 	// ACLDefaultPolicy is used to control the ACL interaction when
 	// there is no defined policy. This can be "allow" which means
-	// ACLs are used to black-list, or "deny" which means ACLs are
-	// white-lists.
+	// ACLs are used to deny-list, or "deny" which means ACLs are
+	// allow-lists.
 	ACLDefaultPolicy string
 
 	// ACLDownPolicy controls the behavior of ACLs if the ACLDatacenter
diff --git a/agent/http.go b/agent/http.go
index 10233fa6b0..c1c2b5b1a9 100644
--- a/agent/http.go
+++ b/agent/http.go
@@ -357,6 +357,7 @@ func (s *HTTPHandlers) wrap(handler endpoint, methods []string) http.HandlerFunc
 	return func(resp http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 		setHeaders(resp, s.agent.config.HTTPResponseHeaders)
 		setTranslateAddr(resp, s.agent.config.TranslateWANAddrs)
+		setACLDefaultPolicy(resp, s.agent.config.ACLDefaultPolicy)
 
 		// Obfuscate any tokens from appearing in the logs
 		formVals, err := url.ParseQuery(req.URL.RawQuery)
@@ -697,6 +698,12 @@ func setConsistency(resp http.ResponseWriter, consistency string) {
 	}
 }
 
+func setACLDefaultPolicy(resp http.ResponseWriter, aclDefaultPolicy string) {
+	if aclDefaultPolicy != "" {
+		resp.Header().Set("X-Consul-Default-ACL-Policy", aclDefaultPolicy)
+	}
+}
+
 // setLastContact is used to set the last contact header
 func setLastContact(resp http.ResponseWriter, last time.Duration) {
 	if last < 0 {
diff --git a/agent/http_test.go b/agent/http_test.go
index 883bf70c27..48f0b13f53 100644
--- a/agent/http_test.go
+++ b/agent/http_test.go
@@ -415,6 +415,54 @@ func TestHTTPAPI_TranslateAddrHeader(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestHTTPAPI_DefaultACLPolicy(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	type testcase struct {
+		name   string
+		hcl    string
+		expect string
+	}
+
+	cases := []testcase{
+		{
+			name:   "default is allow",
+			hcl:    ``,
+			expect: "allow",
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "explicit allow",
+			hcl:    `acl { default_policy = "allow" }`,
+			expect: "allow",
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "explicit deny",
+			hcl:    `acl { default_policy = "deny" }`,
+			expect: "deny",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		tc := tc
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+
+			a := NewTestAgent(t, tc.hcl)
+			defer a.Shutdown()
+
+			resp := httptest.NewRecorder()
+			handler := func(resp http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) (interface{}, error) {
+				return nil, nil
+			}
+
+			req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "/v1/agent/self", nil)
+			a.srv.wrap(handler, []string{"GET"})(resp, req)
+
+			require.Equal(t, tc.expect, resp.Header().Get("X-Consul-Default-ACL-Policy"))
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestHTTPAPIResponseHeaders(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 	a := NewTestAgent(t, `
diff --git a/api/api.go b/api/api.go
index 38a4e98fbd..4de3e77c80 100644
--- a/api/api.go
+++ b/api/api.go
@@ -254,6 +254,11 @@ type QueryMeta struct {
 	// CacheAge is set if request was ?cached and indicates how stale the cached
 	// response is.
 	CacheAge time.Duration
+
+	// DefaultACLPolicy is used to control the ACL interaction when there is no
+	// defined policy. This can be "allow" which means ACLs are used to
+	// deny-list, or "deny" which means ACLs are allow-lists.
+	DefaultACLPolicy string
 }
 
 // WriteMeta is used to return meta data about a write
@@ -962,6 +967,12 @@ func parseQueryMeta(resp *http.Response, q *QueryMeta) error {
 		q.AddressTranslationEnabled = false
 	}
 
+	// Parse X-Consul-Default-ACL-Policy
+	switch v := header.Get("X-Consul-Default-ACL-Policy"); v {
+	case "allow", "deny":
+		q.DefaultACLPolicy = v
+	}
+
 	// Parse Cache info
 	if cacheStr := header.Get("X-Cache"); cacheStr != "" {
 		q.CacheHit = strings.EqualFold(cacheStr, "HIT")
diff --git a/api/api_test.go b/api/api_test.go
index b52ab97a2b..d4e6dab461 100644
--- a/api/api_test.go
+++ b/api/api_test.go
@@ -840,6 +840,7 @@ func TestAPI_ParseQueryMeta(t *testing.T) {
 	resp.Header.Set("X-Consul-LastContact", "80")
 	resp.Header.Set("X-Consul-KnownLeader", "true")
 	resp.Header.Set("X-Consul-Translate-Addresses", "true")
+	resp.Header.Set("X-Consul-Default-ACL-Policy", "deny")
 
 	qm := &QueryMeta{}
 	if err := parseQueryMeta(resp, qm); err != nil {
@@ -858,6 +859,9 @@ func TestAPI_ParseQueryMeta(t *testing.T) {
 	if !qm.AddressTranslationEnabled {
 		t.Fatalf("Bad: %v", qm)
 	}
+	if qm.DefaultACLPolicy != "deny" {
+		t.Fatalf("Bad: %v", qm)
+	}
 }
 
 func TestAPI_UnixSocket(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/website/pages/api-docs/index.mdx b/website/pages/api-docs/index.mdx
index c9c2b7fbd2..0f1d09919d 100644
--- a/website/pages/api-docs/index.mdx
+++ b/website/pages/api-docs/index.mdx
@@ -86,6 +86,18 @@ to allow clients to know if address translation is in effect, the
 and will have a value of `true`. If translation is not enabled then this header
 will not be present.
 
+## Default ACL Policy
+
+All API responses for Consul versions after 1.9 will include an HTTP response
+header `X-Consul-Default-ACL-Policy` set to either "allow" or "deny" which
+mirrors the current value of the agent's
+[`acl.default_policy`](/docs/agent/options#acl_default_policy) option.
+
+This is also the default [intention](/docs/connect/intentions) enforcement
+action if no intention matches.
+
+This is returned even if ACLs are disabled.
+
 ## UUID Format
 
 UUID-format identifiers generated by the Consul API use the