Opinion ID: 3172147
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Deputies Committee

Text: The Deputies Committee, as its name suggests, consists of persons serving as deputies to the ranking officials serving on the Principals Committee. See PPD‐1, at 4. It thus occupies the rung below the Principals Committee in the NSC hierarchy. The Deputies Committee “help[s] ensure that issues being brought before the [Principals Committee] or the NSC have been properly 21 See generally Anderson, supra note 2, at 163–64 (describing value of having interdepartmental groups within NSC test policy proposals before submission to Council: “[M]any differences are reconciled” in this process, “much common ground is found, and many disagreements prove after full discussion to be illusory and not basic differences after all. But if an irreconcilable disagreement arises between the departments represented,” the “elements of the disagreement” and “alternative policy courses” can be clearly identified for full presentation to Council). 43 analyzed and prepared for decision.” Id. at 3. This is plainly a function intended to assist the Principals Committee and the Council, which in turn advises and assists the President. See generally Cutler, supra note 10, at 170 (discussing importance of having items presented for Council deliberation on basis of “carefully staffed and carefully written documents”). It bespeaks no exercise of authority independent of the President. The Deputies Committee also schedules “[p]eriodic reviews of the Administration’s major foreign policy initiatives . . . to ensure that they are being implemented in a timely and effective manner,” and to “consider whether existing policy directives should be revamped or rescinded.” PPD‐1, at 3–4. Such a review‐and‐recommendation process also serves only to assist the President in implementing his policies; it does not constitute authority independent of the President. The Deputies Committee is “responsible for day‐to‐day crisis management, reporting to the National Security Council.” Id. at 4. The qualifying obligation to report to the Council, over which the President himself presides, makes plain that the Committee’s management responsibility involves 44 no exercise of authority independent of the President, but only the hands‐on assistance needed for the President to respond to crises. Finally, the Deputies Committee “review[s] and monitor[s] the work of the NSC interagency process,” a task that includes setting up Interagency Policy Committees to review policies and develop options in respective areas. Id. at 3, 5. That this task only assists the President and exercises no authority independent of him is evident from the responsibilities of the Interagency Policy Committees.