Trump’s NSC: A Bureaucratic Balancing Act

The Cyber Brief ^ | 2-28-17 | Will Edwards

[bigbob]

The appointment of Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster as National Security Advisor was not the Trump Administration’s first shake-up on the National Security Council, and it is unlikely to be the last. The Trump Administration’s decision to upend the NSC’s organization is an effort to correct what many believed had become a bloated bureaucratic structure that could not attain its key goals.

The NSC is a handpicked advisory committee charged with directing the expedient flow of national security information to and from the President. The staff includes the Principals Committee, which includes the secretaries of state, treasury, and defense, among others, and numerous staff members underneath these principal advisors. Over time, presidents have expanded the NSC to draw more decision-making power into the White House, diverting it from its core mission.

“The role of the NSC is to help coordinate expert guidance and tailor the execution of presidential policy,” according to Davis Hake, cybersecurity advisor to the Obama White House and Cipher Brief expert.

At its maximum size, former President Barack Obama’s NSC had nearly 400 staff. By comparison, former President George H.W. Bush’s NSC with Brent Scowcroft as National Security Advisor, seen by many as the gold standard, was 50 people. The large size of Obama’s NSC hampered its ability to make and implement decisions quickly. Further, the consolidation of more power in the White House absorbed responsibilities of other agencies.

[bigbob]

There has been a lot of buzz about the National Security Council and advisor Steve Bannon's role in, and/or possible removal from it. This article provides a lot of background information that most people are probably unaware of, and some insight into the restructuring and refocusing of the NSC that President Trump and National Security Advisor General McMaster will be doing to "lean" the advisory group back to its more effective pre-Clinton structure.

[EagleUSA]

Another win. Another ‘long overdue’. Go Trump.