National Security Decision Making Structure

Pre-1947 Structure

National Security Act of 1947

• Department of Defense• US Air Force• Joint Chiefs of Staff• Central Intelligence Agency• National Security Council

State Department State Department (1789 – no change)(1789 – no change)

• State Dept home page

• Organization• Embassies• Careers• Nations (includesbackground notes)

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/dos/99494.htm

Department of Defense (1947)Department of Defense (1947)The PentagonThe Pentagon

http://odam.defense.gov/omp/Functions/Organizational_Portfolios/Organization_and_Functions_Guidebook.html

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/DoD_Structure_Jan2008.png

Civilian Control of the Military

Chain of Command

President

SecDef

Combatant Commander

DoD Structure• DoD Organization• The Department of Defense• The Office of the Secretary of Defense • Joint Chiefs of Staff

– JCS Structure• United States Army • United States Navy

– Navy Structure• United States Marine Corps • United States Air Force• Unified Command Plan• Defense Intelligence Agency• National Security Agency (NSA)• Defense Science Board publications

Joint Chiefs of Staff

Joint Staff(Purple Suited)

Goldwater-Nichols Act (1986)

Joint Staff

Central Intelligence Agency(1947)

Intelligence Failures 1998-2003

Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004

Intelligence Community

Intelligence Community Links• Director of National Intelligence (2005)– ODNI Structure– DNI National Intelligence Strategy (2005)– National Intelligence Council

• National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) • President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB).• Central Intelligence Agency (1947)– World Factbook– CIA list of World Leaders and Cabinet Members of Foreign

Governments– CIA-sponsored page of links on intelligence issues– Freedom of Information Act details for CIA documents

Department of Homeland Security2003

• Secretary of Homeland Security• Structure

Congressional Oversight– House Armed Services Committee– House Committee on Foreign Afairs– House Select Committee on Homeland Security– House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

– Senate Committee on Armed Services – Senate Committee on Foreign Relations – Senate Committee on Homeland Security and

Government Affairs– Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

– Congressional Budget Office (CBO)– Government Accountability Office (GAO)– CRS Reports through the Federation of American

Scientists

Decision Making

Coordination among agencies/departments

Interagency Process

National Security Council, 1947 (have been modifications)

Members of NSC• President• Vice President• Secretary of State• Secretary of Defense• Secretary of Energy (added 2007)• Any others the President wishes to add

Advisors to NSC• Chair JCS• DNI

Evolution of NSC Staff(now called NS Staff)

• NSC Staff as President’s personal foreign policy staff

• Professionals• National Security Adviser as the President’s

number one adviser• Began with JFK

Presidential Management of National Security Decisions

Premises1. Advisers compete2. Organizations compete

1. $, power, turf

3. Presidents want to manage the process1. Coordination and control2. trust

How President’s Manage Decision Making

1. Standard Model2. Nixon centralization3. Standard Model with Management

Problems4. Standard Model with Strong Management

1. Standard NSC Committee Structure(Based on Ike Model and Bush 41)

NSC

NSC Principals Committee

NSC Deputies Committee

NSC Interagency

Policy Comm.(Asst. Sec)

NSC Interagency

Policy Comm.

(Asst. Sec)

NSC Interagency

Policy Comm(Asst. Sec)

NSC Interagency

Policy Comm(Asst. Sec)

Staff

Typical NSC Membership• President• Vice President• Secretaries of

• State• Defense• Energy• Attorney General• Treasury

• Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs• Deputy Assistant to the Pres. for National Security Affairs• Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs• “Special Assistant to the President”Advisors to NSC• Chair JCS• DNI

Principals Committee• Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (Chair)• Secretaries of

• State• Defense• Energy• Attorney General• Treasury

• Deputy Assistant to the Pres. for National Security Affairs• Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs• “Special Assistant to the President”Advisors to NSC• Chair JCS• DNI

* GW Bush administration: VP Cheney was a member of the Principals Comm.

Deputies Committee• Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security

Affairs (Chair)• Deputy Secretaries or Principal Undersecretaries of• State• Defense• Energy• Attorney General• Treasury

• Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs• “Special Assistant to the President”Advisors to NSC• Vice Chair JCS• Deputy DNI

Assistant Secretary-Level IA GroupsBush 41/43: PCC; Clinton: IWG; Obama: IPC

Middle East IPC (an example)• Chair: Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the

Middle East (NSC Staff)• Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs• Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) • Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

(DRL) • Assistant Sec of Defense for International Security Affairs• Joint Staff Representative (J-5)• Director of CIA Office for Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis• Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs• Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Global

Development, Stabilization and Humanitarian Assistance (NSC Staff)

IA Process Formal Paper FlowPresidential Review Memos and Directives

NSC

NSC PC

NSC DC

NSC IPC

Departments and Agencies

Departments and Agencies

2. Nixon-Kissinger Decision Making:

CentralizationStandard NSC Process RN-HAK Process (by 1971)

President

NSC

NSC CommitteesDeputy/Undersec level

and Asst Sec Level

NSC Staff

Nixon

National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger,

chairing most NSC Committees; NSC staffers chair

Asst Sec level IA Committees

NSC StaffDepts. and Agencies

Depts. and Agencies

3. Standard Model with Management Problems

Carter-Reagan-Bush 43:Rivalry Dominates

For cabinet Government-style NSC process to work, the President must make it work!

4. Standard Model -- Strong ManagementGHW Bush Formal and Informal System

Formal Informal

Gang of Eight (Bush, Quayle, Baker, Cheney, Scowcroft, Gates, Powell, Sununu)

Breakfast Group(Baker, Cheney, Scowcroft)

(Role of DC as the “insulation”)

NSC

NSC PC

NSC DC

NSC PCC

NSC PCC

NSC PCC

NSC Staff

Evolution ModelStandard formalinteragency process

President or senior adviserperceives that changes areneeded in the process

Admin begins debate *narrowing of participationabout adjustments in the *increase in informal and decision making process ad-hoc decision making

*bypassing of the formal IAprocess

Why does the process evolve?

• Pressure to speed up the pace of decision– (economy principle)

• political pressure – (principle of political time)

• learning about advisers and/or the strengths and weaknesses of the process – (learning principle)

Three Structures EvolveFormal Interagency Informal ConfidenceStructure Structure Structure President President President

 NSC Informal Group First-among-equals

that includes the adviser President

 

Cabinet and Sub-cabinet Informal Group Important advisers IA Committees that does not include

the president

Three Structures in GW BushFormal Interagency Informal ConfidenceStructure Structure Structure President President President

 NSC Bush, Cheney, Cheney, Rice (1st)

Powell, Rumsfeld, Rice (2nd) Rice, Card, Hughes, (Rove, Hughes)

Rove, Hadley

 

NSC PC, NSC DC Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld/Gates

NSC PCCs Rumsfeld, Rice lunch Hadley

Three Structures in ObamaFormal Interagency Informal ConfidenceStructure Structure Structure President President President

 NSC Obama, Biden, Donilon, McDonough,

Clinton, Gates, Rhodes (1st) Jones, Donilon, Rice (2nd) McDonough, Rhodes

 

NSC PC, NSC DC Clinton, Gates, Biden, Clinton/Kerry,

NSC IPCs Jones lunch Gates/Panetta/Hagel