Transcript presidency marked by absence of serious challenges to us supremacy

The Role of the NSC
in the US National Security
Policy Process
Dr. Tyrus W. Cobb
[email protected]
July 9, 2013
GEORGE H. W. BUSH
NATIONAL SECURITY TEAM
• BUSH 41 TENURE MARKED BY PREDOMINANCE OF THE U.S. AS WORLD’S SOLE
SUPERPOWER.
•BERLIN WALL FALLS; GERMANY REUNITED; UNITED GERMANY JOINS NATO; SOVIET
UNION COLLAPSES ON “THE ASH HEAP OF HISTORY”.
•PRESIDENCY MARKED BY ABSENCE OF SERIOUS CHALLENGES TO U.S. SUPREMACY.
•NEW WORLD ORDER AND UNUSUAL COMITY AMONG NSC PRINCIPLES LEADS TO
ABSENCE OF SERIOUS INTERAGENCY FRICTION (JIM BAKER, BRENT SCOWCROFT,
DICK CHENEY, COLIN POWELL).
•CONCURRENCE ON DESERT STORM (INCLUDING NO MARCH ON BAGHDAD).
CLINTON NSC CONFRONTS
FRACTURING WORLD ORDER
• CLINTON NSC DEALS WITH NEW TRANSNATIONAL CHALLENGES:
TERRORISM, ILLEGAL DRUGS, UN PEACEKEEPING, GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL
AFFAIRS, HAITI, BOSNIA, SOMALIA AND ZAIRE.
• FORMER SOVIET EMPIRE PRESENTS DIFFICULT DIPLOMATIC ISSUES.
• INTEGRATION OF EASTERN AND WESTERN EUROPE WITHOUT PROVOKING
RUSSIA.
• A RISING CHINA: CONFLICT OR COOPERATION?
• CREATION OF ECONOMIC POLICY COUNCIL AT LEVEL OF THE NSC.
GEORGE W. BUSH NSC SYSTEM
• 9/11 2001 CHANGES EVERYTHING. CHENEY SNAPS INTO ACTION; RUMSFELD
REDEEMED AND STRENGTHENED.
• FOR FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, VP PLAYS EXTRAORDINARILY SIGNIFICANT ROLE.
• SECSTATE POWELL INITIALLY THE DOMINANT PLAYER BUT IS ECLIPSED BY
CHENEY AND RUMMY.
• CHENEY – RUMSFELD AXIS OVERPOWERS RICE AND POWELL.
• NSC ADVISOR CONDI RICE ENJOYS UNUSUAL CLOSENESS TO PRESIDENT BUT
HAS DIFFICULTIES HERDING THE ELEPHANTS.
OBAMA NSC GROWS IN SIZE AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
• NSA GEN JIM JONES PREFERRED LOW PROFILE; DID NOT HAVE CLOSE
RELATIONSHIP TO THE PRESIDENT. TOM DONILON HAS MUCH TIGHTER
RELATIONS WITH OBAMA AND ESPECIALLY BIDEN.
• RETAINING BOB GATES AS SEC DEF BRILLIANT STROKE.
• GATES AND HILLARY ESTABLISH CLOSE, PRODUCTIVE RELATIONSHIP.
• CLINTON WIDELY PRAISED FOR SKILL AND DIPLOMACY.
• CJCS MULLEN AVOIDS INVOLVEMENT IN MAJOR CONFLICTS.
•NSC STAFF GROWS SIGNIFICANTLY; NEW ISSUES NOW UNDER NSC DIRECTION;
NSC INTERAGENCY SYSTEM INCREDIBLY COMPLEX.
VP Joe Biden, President Barak Obama, Denis McDonough (WH Chief of
Staff), Sec of State Hillary Clinton
John Kerry, Joe Biden, Chuck Hagel
Structure of the United States National Security Council
(Current)
Chair
Barack Obama (President of the United States)
Statutory Attendees
John Kerry (Secretary of State)
Chuck Hagel (Secretary of Defense)
Military Advisor
Gen. Martin Dempsey (US Army) (Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff)
Intelligence Advisor
Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper (Ret.) (Dir. of National Intelligence)
John O. Brennan (Director of the Central Intelligence Agency)
Drug Policy Advisor
Gil Kerlikowske (Director of National Drug Control Policy)
Regular Attendees
Tom Donilon (National Security Advisor)
Denis McDonough (White House Chief of Staff)
Tony Blinken (Deputy National Security Advisor)
Tom Donilon, President Obama, Susan Rice, and Samantha Power
December 2010