INSS Strategic Monograph

National Defense University Press

Washington, D.C.

November 2016

The NSC Staff: New Choices 

for a New Administration

by R.D. Hooker, Jr.
Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied 

within are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent 

the views of the Defense Department or any other agency of the Federal 

Government. Cleared for public release; distribution unlimited.

Portions of this work may be quoted or reprinted without permission, 

provided that a standard source credit line is included. NDU Press would 

appreciate a courtesy copy of reprints or reviews.

Cover: Eisenhower Executive Office Building and White House 

(Photo courtesy of Lea Shanley)

First printing, November 2016
Contents

What Does the NSC Staff Do? ................................................... 1

The National Security Advisor ................................................... 2

The Deputy National Security Advisor ....................................... 5

The NSC Staff ............................................................................. 6

The Committee System............................................................... 7

Size and Structure..................................................................... 10

The Interagency Process........................................................... 11

Conclusion................................................................................. 15

Notes......................................................................................... 16

About the Author....................................................................... 19

1

The NSC Staff

Early in every new administration, the President and his national 

security team are inundated with studies offering advice on how to 

organize for national security. Many propose sweeping changes in the 

size, structure, and mission of the National Security Council (NSC) 

staff, the fulcrum of national security decisionmaking. However attractive superficially, organizational tinkering is unlikely to drive better performance. This paper argues that structure and process are less 

important than leadership and the quality of NSC staffing. No duty 

rises higher than the President’s call to defend the Constitution and 

the people and territory it nourishes. That duty will be tested early and 

often. An NSC staff that is up to the task will play an enormous role 

in keeping the United States safe.1

What Does the NSC Staff Do?

The NSC staff has four primary roles: to advise the President in 

the field of national security affairs, to manage and coordinate the 

interagency process in formulating national security policy, to broadly 

monitor policy execution, and to staff the President for national security meetings, trips, and events. Many assume that the NSC staff 

does, or should do, much more. But it is first and foremost the President’s personal national security staff.2

 Other tasks—such as generating independent, whole of government national security policies and 

strategies, or conducting detailed, daily implementation oversight—

would require a much larger staff and inevitably lead to ponderous, 

centralized, and ultimately dysfunctional behaviors that would prevent 

responsive support to the President. Long-range “strategic” planning 

is surely essential, but more properly belongs to the interagency as 

a whole, vetted by the Deputies and Principals Committees and approved by the full National Security Council.

The NSC’s role as a process manager is not synonymous with policy advocacy. While the National Security Advisor (NSA) may and often will recommend a given course of action, a more critical function 
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is ensuring that all viewpoints are heard and objectively assessed, and 

that important issues are framed for decision. When allowed to become 

an operational entity (as occurred during the Iran-Contra affair) or to 

effectively preempt the Departments of State and Defense (as in the 

Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter eras), the NSC staff 

has historically stumbled.3

 Properly focused and chartered, the NSC 

staff can empower and facilitate an interagency process that is otherwise cumbersome. 

Over time, the NSC staff has become immersed in policy detail 

and in responding to urgent or crisis events, fed largely by a 24-hour 

news cycle. This in turn creates pressure for staff growth. The result is 

a diminished ability to conduct high-level, far-seeing policy work at the 

appropriate strategic level. A smaller NSC staff by definition is unable 

to immerse itself in detailed policy oversight and micromanagement, a 

compelling argument for reductions in future administrations.

In this regard, the NSC staff is not a line entity, statutorily empowered to give orders in its own name. And significantly, it should not 

be an interagency planning headquarters. It may forward Presidential 

guidance and direction through formal channels or an approved interagency body such as the Principals Committee. It cannot direct or 

demand. However, the NSC staff and its head, the National Security 

Advisor, enjoy two distinct advantages: access to the President, and 

the ability to set the policy agenda in national security affairs. Used 

judiciously, these represent real power.

The National Security Advisor 

The National Security Advisor (more formally styled “Assistant 

to the President for National Security Affairs”) acts principally as a 

direct advisor to the President and as the primary manager of the interagency process.4

 The NSA must have or develop a close relationship 

with the President based on mutual trust and confidence, free from 

the intervention of other White House political agents, and with direct 
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The NSC Staff

access.5 Historians and scholars generally agree that, among competing 

examples, the pragmatism, collegiality, and quiet authority of Brent 

Scowcroft in the administration of George H.W. Bush represents a 

high standard that few others have achieved.6

 (Today’s interagency system of Principals and Deputies Committees and interagency working 

groups dates from his tenure). Although having a strong and sturdy 

personality, Scowcroft shunned the limelight, taking his “honest broker” charter seriously and bringing clear focus, deep experience, and 

sound values to his high position. Scowcroft charted a middle course 

between egoism and desire for control on the one hand, and excessive 

collegiality and power-sharing on the other. Dominant personalities 

who seek to control outcomes, restricting cabinet officer access to the 

President and preventing open airing of interagency views, may well 

cause system failure. But weaker personalities who prize consensus 

above sound policy outcomes may also fail. 

In selecting the National Security Advisor, Presidents should look 

for a seasoned national security professional who is able to interact 

with cabinet officers as an equal without dominating them or being 

unduly deferential. The NSA should have a comprehensive and practical understanding of the defense and foreign policy establishments 

and ideally will have worked in both (in general, academics, businessmen, and attorneys with weak backgrounds in the Pentagon and/or 

State Department have not excelled). A personal relationship with the 

President is a critical asset, but a decisive and selfless character, followed by competence and experience, are also key. A good choice will 

settle quickly into the role, function effectively and do so out of the 

spotlight, and endure.7

 Poor selections lead to high turnover or policy 

drift—both painful disabilities. Some Presidents have used their NSAs 

as public figures, deploying them on Sunday talk shows or as highprofile diplomats. Others have clearly relied on them for emotional 

support or as policy bludgeons. In the end, the President is free to 
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INSS Strategic Monograph

choose what role the NSA will play. But seven decades of history illuminate the many pitfalls.

The NSA’s role is most challenging when principals disagree on 

solutions to major problems. At such times, the NSA may elevate a 

contentious issue to the President for decision, and for critical issues 

that is both important and needful. But the President’s time is scarce, 

and publicly overruling a cabinet officer, though occasionally necessary, is never preferred. In most cases, principals and deputies can and 

should come to consensus on policy solutions that, while perhaps not 

optimal from an agency/department perspective, address the overall 

policy objective with a feasible and practical way ahead. The ability of 

the National Security Advisor to work behind the scenes to forge that 

consensus represents the true center of gravity of the interagency. An 

effective NSA should be measured by how well tough policy issues get 

solved—without constant Presidential intervention. 

None of this is easy. As one expert has observed:

Our expectations of National Security Advisors are altogether 

unrealistic. We want them to be master administrators who advance the multilayered interagency committee process in a timely, 

transparent, and comprehensive fashion. But we also want them 

to be foreign policy and national security maestros who combine 

a comprehensive appreciation of the international system and 

security environment with a wide range of subject matter expertise across an incredible array of multifarious complex problems that enables them to discreetly offer sagacious advice when 

circumstances, or the President, demand it. We also insist that 

Advisors have an exceptionally close personal relationship with 

the President, essentially serving as the President’s alter ego on 

national security.8
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The NSC Staff

There is merit in this critique. The President’s pick as NSA is clearly 

critical, but we need a system that does not demand more than we can 

reasonably expect. 

In this regard, in recent years strong calls have been made for 

legislation making the NSA a Senate-confirmable position required 

to testify before Congress.9

 This would be a mistake on many levels. 

All Presidents need and deserve confidential advisors free to proffer 

their counsel and support in confidence. Dragging senior Presidential 

staff before Congress can fuel highly partisan disputes with no real 

improvement in government performance. Through many different 

venues, Presidents can be called out and even punished for poor performance by their NSAs. 

The Deputy National Security Advisor

The Deputy NSA (DNSA) is likewise a critical appointment. 

Also an assistant to the President (like the NSA), he or she will chair 

the Deputies Committee (DC), where most policy formulation takes 

place, and is usually chartered to look after the day-to-day operations 

of the NSC—in short, “to make the trains run on time.” (The Bill 

Clinton administration also installed an NSC Chief of Staff, while the 

Barack Obama White House combined the titles of NSC Chief of 

Staff and Executive Secretary.) The deputy should have both policy 

and leadership experience at a high level in the national security arena. 

Weak government experience will limit performance in this key position. Extensive interagency experience and a collegial but decisive 

demeanor are prerequisites. The George W. Bush administration also 

created a number of DNSAs for specific areas, such as regional affairs or promoting democracy, with deputy or special assistant to the 

President status; these ranked above NSC senior directors but below 

the “principal” DNSA. Some of these positions were continued under President Obama.
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INSS Strategic Monograph

The NSC Staff

Senior NSC staff officers usually hold White House “commissioned officer” rank as assistants, deputy assistants, or special assistants to the President. They receive official commissions signed by 

the President and other privileges, such as use of the White House 

mess. Senior directors are often, but not always, commissioned officers. They head NSC offices of 2 to 10 people and may come from 

government or private sector backgrounds. They are typically more 

experienced and perhaps more partisan, and will often stay for longer 

tours than detailed directors. Senior directors regularly attend Deputies 

Committees as direct participants and Principals Committees (PC) in 

support of the NSA. They may also chair senior interagency working 

groups (such as the Iraq Steering Group in the George W. Bush administration) below the deputies level. Depending on their responsibilities, 

senior directors may have significant exposure to the President.

Most rank and file staff members are detailed from the Intelligence Community, State Department, the military, or other government agencies. They are paid by their home agencies and are normally 

assigned for 1 or 2 years. Additionally, a few staff members may come 

from the private sector and are paid from the NSC operating budget. 

Styled as “directors,” they are the action officers who perform most of 

the NSC’s day-to-day staff functions. Each must be qualified to hold 

extremely high-level clearances. 

NSC directors are assigned large portfolios and are expected to 

work without detailed supervision in leading the interagency in their 

assigned areas. Many have significant government experience, outstanding records, and impressive graduate educations. As most are career 

government employees, they provide a somewhat less partisan environment and “feel” to the NSC in comparison to other White House offices. Directors lead interagency working groups and will often attend 
7

The NSC Staff

Deputies Committees as backbenchers and subject matter experts. As a 

rule, directors have limited exposure to the President.

In general, the President is best served when NSC staff members 

are carefully screened for their intelligence, academic and professional 

qualifications, experience, and willingness to serve out of the limelight. 

The ability to work quickly and to a high standard under stress, to fit 

smoothly into an interagency team setting, and to operate comfortably 

around very senior government officials is needed. Stamina and imperturbability are highly prized.10 In this regard, agency reluctance to offer 

up their best talent should be met head on. The President needs and 

deserves talent and quality and should get it. 

More often than not (although there are occasional exceptions), 

hiring young, inexperienced, unseasoned NSC staffers—even with impressive academic credentials or connections to prominent figures—

will backfire. Excessive ambition, personal agendas, and divided loyalties can only distract and disrupt complex and highly sensitive NSC 

machinery. The NSC staff is a place for grownups, committed to serve 

the Nation and the President. Only careful vetting and objective criteria will ensure an NSC staff that is up to the task.

The Committee System

NSC staff members have often, though not always, chaired interagency working groups and may continue to do so in the next administration.11 Standing working groups are usually established by Presidential directive early in an administration, with ad hoc groups set up by 

the Deputies Committee for more specific issues.12 These groups are 

essential cogs in the policymaking process and, when well run, will generate most effective policy solutions. Sometimes co-chaired by a representative from the designated “lead” department or agency, depending 

on the issue, they may meet weekly or more often. NSC chairs work 

hard to ensure that group membership remains stable, that policy problems are well defined and scoped, that all useful views are considered, 
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INSS Strategic Monograph

and that working papers forwarded to deputies meet high standards for 

completeness, accuracy, and brevity.

Often, however, success is elusive. One reason is that the interagency is actually many interagencies. The Obama administration’s 

campaign to counter the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant is an 

apposite example. Multiple working groups focused on Iran, Iraq, 

Syria, Turkey, Russia, intelligence, and counterterrorism collided in 

a mélange of competing interests and priorities, leaving deputies to 

sort out a bewildering set of opinions and recommendations. Effective integration and synchronization of multiple “lines of effort” 

(LoEs) foundered on a particularly remarkable example of bureaucratic disarray.13 A more effective approach would be to constitute a 

steering group, composed of the LoE leads and led by an empowered 

Presidential special envoy, to coordinate LoE activities, track progress 

against approved performance metrics, and report regularly to deputies and principals. Key decisions would be framed for resolution by 

the NSC staff. 

In theory, most of the heavy lifting should be done in the Deputies Committee, where the bulk of policy decisions are expected to be 

made. As envisioned, DCs would be staffed by department and agency 

number twos or number threes, meeting at regular intervals to consider 

working group recommendations and, where possible, make policy decisions without further reference to higher levels. Oversight of policy 

implementation was inherent in this charter.14 For the most important 

policy issues, deputies are expected to shape issues for Presidential decision by refining working group products and clearly defining points 

of convergence and dissensus. 

In practice, the effectiveness of the Deputies Committee has been 

hampered over time by too frequent meetings addressing lower priority issues with both an expansion and a dilution of committee membership. At the height of the Iraq war in 2007, for example, DCs on Iraq 

were held weekly or even more often. The senior Pentagon officials 
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The NSC Staff

present were often the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the 

Middle East and the two-star vice director for strategy, plans and policy—far below the deputy or undersecretary of defense and four-star 

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs originally envisioned. Over time, 

offices and agencies represented in the Deputies Committee have ballooned.15 These trends replicate, to a lesser extent, the “multiple interagencies” problem faced at the working group level, with DCs composed of sometimes different personalities meeting more and more 

often to consider more and more issues. “True” deputies simply lack 

the time to devote to endless sessions in the White House Situation 

Room, pondering less important issues, when their primary job is to 

run their departments and agencies. As a consequence, modern DCs 

are somewhat less able to focus on broad policy development and 

strategic guidance than before. Driven “into the weeds,” the Deputies 

Committee today lacks the influence and impact of former times.

 The composition of NSCs and PCs is more stable but has also 

expanded over time (the routine addition of the Ambassador to 

the United Nations is an example). At this level the pathologies described above are more muted. Principals meet more often than they 

once did, a feature of the 24-hour news cycle and modern information flows, but as before, all national security issues that really matter 

come before them. As the most senior executives in government, 

their time is precious and their responsibilities many. Meetings of the 

National Security Council and Principals Committee are most effective when subordinate committees have done their work well; when 

principals are asked to adjudicate those decisions that only they can 

make; when meetings are executed crisply and efficiently to preserve 

senior leader time; and when the President is given the information 

needed to make effective decisions in a timely manner. The NSC 

staff can play a central role in managing all of these requirements to 

best effect.
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INSS Strategic Monograph

Size and Structure

Time has seen progressive growth in the NSC staff from fewer 

than 20 in the Dwight Eisenhower administration to more than 400 

under Obama. The George W. Bush NSC staff had approximately 260 

personnel assigned (including about 60 administrative and support 

staff), organized into 20 offices. Regional offices (East Asia, South 

and Central Asia, Western Hemisphere, and Europe [including Russia]) were grouped under one DNSA for Regional Affairs, except for 

the Office for Iraq and Afghanistan, under its own DNSA. (Near East 

and North Africa were also split out, under the DNSA for Democracy, 

Human Rights, and International Organizations). Functional offices 

included Strategic Planning, Defense, Combating Terrorism, Intelligence, Counter-Proliferation, International Economics, Legal, Communications, and Legislative. Support offices were the Executive Secretary, Systems, Records, Administration, and the White House Situation 

Room. A separate Homeland Security Council was also established 

following 9/11 (later merged back into the NSC staff under Obama). 

Under President Obama, the NSC staff (for a time relabeled as the 

“National Security Staff ”) reorganized its regional groupings, added 

cyber, climate change, and development directorates, and assumed a 

more pronounced and intrusive oversight role as it expanded in size.16

An incoming administration may look at some restructuring of 

regional or functional responsibilities, but a radical reorganization will 

likely do more harm than good.17 In some administrations, offices were 

created with cross-cutting responsibilities that invited conflict and competition. (The Office of Global and Multilateral Affairs in the Clinton 

administration is an example.) Without a very limited and clearly defined charter, such offices will tend to stray across the policy landscape, 

often leading to in-fighting and intramural clashes. A new administration should think long and carefully before moving in this direction.
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The NSC Staff

 Historically, the NSC staff has been quite small compared to 

the staffs of major agencies and departments, and for good reason. 

Though limited in its ability to exercise detailed planning and oversight 

functions, the NSC staff should be agile, outcome-oriented, and appropriately focused on support to the President and executive policies. 

Growing the staff to replicate functions found elsewhere is a standard, 

even formulaic recommendation by think tanks and academics. But a 

lean, responsive, high-performing NSC staff has stood the test of time 

in both Republican and Democratic administrations. Creating more 

bureaucracy will not improve efficiency.

Some appreciation of the role of the Office of the Vice President 

(OVP) is essential to understanding NSC staff functions. As a statutory 

member of the NSC, the Vice President is of course a central figure. 

Beginning with the Clinton administration, the Vice President’s role in 

national security affairs has become steadily more pronounced. The 

OVP is represented in all DCs and PCs, and the Vice President’s national security advisor and national security staff participate in all meaningful deliberations. Depending on the issue and on key personalities and 

their relationships with other principals, the OVP can play a constructive or obstructive role in national security deliberations. Importantly, 

the Vice President enjoys direct access to the President and may often 

conduct closed-door policy deliberations without other principals in 

the room. Vice Presidents Dick Cheney and Joseph Biden in particular 

have exercised this influence. What seems clear is that the OVP’s position, power, and sway inside the NSC system are not likely to diminish. 

Ideally, however, the OVP should not become a rival or alternate NSC 

staff with its own policy agenda separate from the President’s.

The Interagency Process

The interagency is slow, often unfocused, easy to obstruct, and 

obsessed with consensus. All too often, participants will defend agency positions in the certain knowledge that good policy solutions are 
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INSS Strategic Monograph

thereby prevented. A certain amount of inefficiency is accepted in the 

interests of comity and the widest possible “buy-in.” Nevertheless, a 

“lowest common denominator” solution—what former Secretary of 

State Dean Acheson described as “agreement by exhaustion”—is seldom optimal.18

In some administrations, interagency groups (even at high levels) 

were chaired by departments and agencies. This should be avoided.19

As honest brokers and process managers, NSC representatives should 

chair all levels, with designated lead agencies as co-chairs. In this way, 

the President’s policies can be consistently and uniformly applied and 

enforced, and narrow departmental agendas prevented from dominating the policy process.

A common refrain these days is that “the interagency is broken.” 

Particularly in academic circles, the NSC staff is criticized for a perceived inability to properly lead the interagency to timely and effective 

policy outcomes. Critics have called for a stronger, larger, restructured, 

or more empowered NSC staff to break through the bureaucracy and 

overcome departmental resistance and foot-dragging.20 These views 

reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of how the interagency actually works. 

In most instances, frustration with “the interagency” is actually 

frustration over an inability to achieve a specific desired policy result. 

The NSC staff can be fairly criticized if it fails to “tee up” pressing 

policy issues for deputies or principals consideration; if it fails to ensure that realistic courses of action are brought forward; if it fails to 

provoke objective discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of 

each; or if it fails to follow up on overarching policy execution by holding agencies responsible for performance. But lack of support by one 

or more key principals—the most common reason a proposed policy 

fails—is not a process flaw. Rather, it is government in action. When 

the NSC staff functions properly in its role as process manager, concurring and dissenting opinions are passed up quickly, honestly, and 
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The NSC Staff

objectively to an appropriate level for decision. Issues are not routinely 

returned to committee, rescheduled, deferred, or ignored. Appropriate senior leaders attend on time, pre-briefed and ready to discuss and 

vote; in-lieu-of juniors are not permitted because they do not have 

the standing to represent agency positions. Ad hoc decision groups 

that exclude key players and keep no written records are banned. Intentional leaks of classified information, intended to influence policy 

outcomes, are not tolerated. All this takes firm leadership that drives 

toward effective policy without alienating key interagency leaders. 

Frustration with interagency performance can lead to calls for a 

stronger NSC staff. Investing the NSC with policy dominance—that 

is, the power to determine policy outcomes regardless of departmental views—carries weighty risks. It will invariably “operationalize” the 

White House, with potentially harmful results. It deprives the President of a free flow of valuable agency expertise and perspective. It can 

lead to a “slash and burn” approach to policy that destroys interagency 

cooperation and encourages bureaucratic insurgency. 

A word about Presidential special envoys may be in order here. 

These have proliferated in recent administrations, probably because 

the President and senior White House officials feel better able to control them as “direct reports.” Their appointments also signal particular 

Presidential attention and emphasis.21 Still, special envoys typically lack 

staff, funding, and terms of reference to enable them to overcome 

or challenge cabinet officers and the departments they manage. On 

the whole, and with a few exceptions, their performance has not been 

impressive. Much like convening a Presidential task force to “study” a 

particular issue, special envoys may generate light but not much heat. 

Using them as “workarounds” is not likely to materially improve the 

performance of the interagency process.

If the organizational process is not the problem, what is it? In a 

word, it is execution. While the inherent weaknesses of government 

by committee cannot be completely overcome, the interagency process 
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can be made to function better. The solution will not be found by rearranging the deck chairs. 

The traditional system of interagency working groups and Deputies and Principals Committees is sound. What is unsound is the common practice of putting consensus above performance. In the final 

analysis, the interagency can function effectively when all know that a 

seat at the table confers a vote, but not a veto. Anything else leads to 

paralysis. In this, the role of the NSA is critical; here, he or she must 

be supported by the President. When one vote can stop a major, badly 

needed policy adjustment, the system breaks down. Presidential leadership, judiciously brought into play when most needed, is the key.

If this general thesis—that leadership and performance are more 

important than structure and process—is correct, then the President’s 

selection of cabinet officers and senior staff is supremely important. 

Many variables come into play. The President may have political debts 

that must be paid. Geographic, ethnic, and gender diversity must be 

considered. Close personal relationships may enter the equation. But 

above all, character and competence must take precedence. Candidates 

who were outstandingly successful academics, lawyers, businessmen, 

or legislators, for example, may lack deep experience in the executive 

branch and founder when named to head large executive departments.22

How well the President’s national security team members interact 

with each other is just as important. Even the best NSC staff cannot 

overcome fratricidal strife between cabinet officers or senior White 

House officials. Recent history is rife with examples of major NSC 

personalities who could not or would not cooperate, greatly impairing 

performance.23 Even highly qualified, exceptional leaders can be poor 

choices if they are unable to serve as loyal and collegial teammates or 

are unwilling to place national interests ahead of departmental ones. 

In many cases these proclivities can be known well in advance, and 

they should be considered in all high-level personnel selections. Few 
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The NSC Staff

Presidential decisions will matter more than who sits across the table 

at NSC meetings.

Conclusion

How well the NSC staff performs will be crucial in determining the new administration’s success in keeping America safe. It is no 

place for oversized egos, partisan bomb throwers, ambitious juniors, 

overbearing seniors, or policy “tourists” who lack the interest and 

persistence to work key issues across months and even years. Here, 

competence, character, collegiality, and selfless service are the keys to 

the kingdom. The specifics of internal structure are not particularly 

important. Talent and leadership, as well as a proper appreciation for 

roles and responsibilities, are. It will always be the President’s prerogative to mold and use the NSC staff as needed. But we have plenty to go 

on in assessing a high-performing NSC staff. As with most endeavors, 

the chances for success greatly improve when we take advantage of the 

successes and failures of our predecessors. 
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Notes

1 A note on terminology: though the term NSC is often used to denote the 

National Security Council staff—that is, the body that supports the President and 

National Security Advisor—the term is properly used to mean the body chartered 

in the 1947 National Security Act as amended. The National Security Council’s 

statutory members include the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, and 

Secretary of Defense, with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Director of 

Central Intelligence (later the Director of National Intelligence) serving as statutory 

advisors. (The Secretary of Energy was added to the NSC by legislation in 2007.) 

Other officials attend meetings of the NSC as directed by the President. See Paul 

D. Miller, “The Contemporary Presidency: Organizing the National Security Council,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 43, no. 3 (September 2013), 593.

2 Amy Zegart, Flawed by Design: The Evolution of the CIA, JCS, and NSC (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), 79. Importantly, the NSC staff does not 

support the NSC per se but rather the President and NSA.

3 See Karl F. Inderfurth and Loch K. Johnson, Fateful Decisions: Inside the National Security Council (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2004), 85–95.

4 Alan G. Whittaker et al., The National Security Policy Process: The National Security 

Council and Interagency System (Washington, DC: National Defense University, August 

15, 2011), 27. 

5 Kevin Marsh, “The Contemporary Presidency: The Administrator as Outsider: James Jones as National Security Advisor,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 42, no. 

4 (December 2014), 831.

6 “The NSC system Brent Scowcroft ran for President Bush is widely held up 

as the gold standard.” See Mark Wilcox, “The National Security Council Deputies 

Committee: Engine of the Policy Process,” Interagency Journal 5, no. 1 (Winter 2014), 

23.

7 The Reagan administration saw six different NSAs. This turnover contributed 

to any number of national security miscues and mishaps. See Richard Best, Jr., The 

National Security Council: An Organizational Assessment, RL30840 (Washington, DC: 

Congressional Research Service, December 28, 2011), 18. 

8 Christopher J. Lamb, “National Security Reform,” in Charting a Course: Strategic 

Choices for a New Administration, ed. R.D. Hooker, Jr. (Washington, DC: NDU Press, 

forthcoming).
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The NSC Staff

9 For example, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Congressman William Thornberry offered this change as an amendment to the 2017 

National Defense Authorization Act.

10 Whittaker, 41.

11 Nomenclature changes from one administration to the next; past terminology has included Interdepartmental Groups, Interagency Groups, Interagency Working Groups, 

Policy Coordinating Committees, and Interagency Policy Committees.

12 See, for example, National Security Presidential Directive 1, “Organization 

of the National Security Council System,” February 13, 2001, available at <www.

georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu/~/media/GWBL/Files/Digitized%20Content/2014-

0390-F/t030-021-012-nspd1-2-20140390f.ashx>.

13 “Inadequate unity of effort plagues every level of this war, and it will cripple 

the coalition unless it is remedied. At the highest level, no single synchronizer of 

U.S. government efforts has been named. U.S. government departments or agencies 

are designated the leads for one of the nine lines of effort, but there is no daily 

orchestration of the campaign in a whole-of-government or whole-of-coalition 

sense.” See Linda Robinson, An Assessment of the Counter-ISIL Campaign (Santa 

Monica, CA: RAND, August 2015), 4.

14 The origin of the Deputies Committee can be found in a supplement to 

President George H.W. Bush’s National Security Directive 1, issued on October 

25, 1989, and authored by National Security Advisor Lieutenant General Brent 

Scowcroft.

15 Originally, representation in the Deputies and Principals committees was restricted to those departments and agencies represented on the NSC by statute, with 

others attending by invitation based on the agenda. Over time, for reasons of influence and prestige, occasional attendance hardened into more or less permanent 

representation for many offices. Modern DCs and PCs may see multiple White 

House offices represented, for example, a practice uncommon in the late 1980s.

16 “The National Security Council has increasingly micromanaged military 

operations and centralized decision making within the staff of the National Security Council.” See Deliberations of the Senate Armed Services Committee, The 

Congressional Record 162, no. 78 (May 17, 2016), H2677.

17 See Robert Worley, The National Security Council: Recommendations for the New 

President (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), 7.

18 Cited in Inderfurth, 43.
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19 This was a key finding of the Tower Commission, appointed to look into the 

Iran-Contra scandal and recommend improvements to NSC operations. Best, 19.

20 See Jack A. LeCuyer, A National Security Staff for the 21st Century (Carlisle Barracks, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, December 2012).

21 David Auerswald, “The Evolution of the NSC Process,” in The National Security Enterprise, ed. Roger George and Harvey Rishikof (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2011), 48.

22 There are many examples. Louis Johnson, Charles Wilson, Robert McNamara, Les Aspin, Anthony Lake, and Chuck Hagel could be cited, among others. 

At the other end of the spectrum, Colin Powell, Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, and 

Brent Scowcroft stand out as deeply experienced and effective NSC leaders and 

practitioners.

23 The rivalry between Alexander Haig and Caspar Weinberger in the first 

Reagan administration is a clear case. A more recent example is the role played by 

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney in the 

George W. Bush administration, which effectively sidelined the NSC staff and more 

broadly the interagency process. Rumsfeld’s rivalry with General Colin Powell has 

been well documented and largely blunted the effectiveness of Powell, otherwise 

considered an exceptional Secretary of State. Worley, 31.
19

The NSC Staff

About the Author

Dr. R.D. Hooker, Jr., is The Theodore Roosevelt Chair in National Security Affairs and Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. He previously served as Director 

for Defense, National Security Council (NSC) Arms Control and Defense Directorate, and Director for Coalition Affairs, NSC Office for 

Iraq and Afghanistan. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, 

Dr. Hooker served as Deputy Commandant and Dean of the NATO 

Defense College in Rome. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, International Institute of Strategic Studies, and Foreign 

Policy Research Institute. A former White House Fellow, he previously 

taught at the United States Military Academy at West Point and held 

the Chief of Staff of the Army Chair at the National War College in 

Washington, DC.