Opinion ID: 3172147
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: NSC Staff

Text: The National Security Act provides for the NSC to have a staff “to perform such duties as may be prescribed by the Council in connection with the performance of its functions.” 50 U.S.C. § 3021(c). As we have already 17 Because we conclude that no part of the NSC System is authorized—by Congress or the President—to exercise authority independent of the President or to do more than advise and assist the President, we need not here decide whether such a grant of authority would transform the entire NSC System or only a part into an agency subject to the FOIA. 28 explained, the Council’s functions are solely advisory; it is granted no authority independent of the President. Thus, it can hardly confer on its staff more authority than it has itself. Any duties the NSC assigns to its staff “in connection with the performance of its functions,” therefore, must also be deemed only to advise, or to assist in advising or assisting. In this respect, we emphasize that the relevant Soucie inquiry is not whether an entity enjoys a measure of discretion, or independence, in how it provides advice or assistance. That is true to some degree of most advisers and assistants. Rather, Soucie asks whether an entity does more than render advice or assistance to the President—whether it exercises authority independent of the President, particularly with respect to individuals or other parts of government. Nothing in § 3021(c) admits a conclusion that the NSC staff exercises any such independent authority.