Fateful Decisions Inside the National Security Council

by Inderfurth, Karl F.; Johnson, Loch K.

• ISBN13: 9780195159653
• ISBN10: 0195159659
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-01-29
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The National Security Council is the most important formal institution inthe government of the United States for the creation and implementation offoreign and defense policy. The Council's four principal members - thePresident, Vice President, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Defense - areresponsible for incredibly vast decisions of war and peace, diplomacy,international trade, and covert operations. Yet, despite its obvious importance,the NSC has been subject to relatively little scholarly scrutiny, and remainsmisunderstood by most IR students. This edited collection, built upon the firstedition originally published under the title Decisions of the Highest Order atBrooks-Cole, presents a collection of seminal articles, essays, and documentsdrawn from a variety of sources, that will offer revealing coverage of keytopics such as the rise of the National Security Adviser to a position ofprominence, key challenges to the NSC, and the role of the NSC in a post-ColdWar environment.

Table of Contents

FIGURES	xi
PREFACE	xiii
I ORIGINS
Editors' Introduction	1	(26)
1 The Development of Political-Military Consultation in the United States.
Ernest R. May	7	(10)
2 Postwar Organization for National Security.
Ferdinand Eberstadt	17	(4)
3 Legislative Debate on the National Security Act of 1947.
U.S. Congress	21	(3)
4 The National Security Act of 1947.
U.S. Congress	24	(3)
II EARLY YEARS
Editors' Introduction	27	(36)
5 The NSC Under Truman and Eisenhower.
Stanley L. Falk	35	(11)
6 Effective National Security Advising: Recovering the Eisenhower Legacy.
Fred I. Greenstein and Richard H. Immerman	46	(7)
7 Forging A Strategy for Survival.
Henry M. Jackson	53	(4)
8 Organizing for National Security.
Jackson Subcommittee	57	(6)
III TRANSFORMATION
Editors' Introduction	63	(22)
9 Letter to Jackson Subcommittee.
McGeorge Bundy	81	(4)
10 Kissinger's Apparat.
John P. Leacacos	85	(9)
11 Presidential DirectiveNSC-2.
Jimmy Carter	94	(3)
IV THE MODERN NSC
Editors' Introduction	97	(10)
12 The National Security Council System After the Cold War.
Vincent A. Auger	107	(17)
13 National Security Presidential Directive 1.
George W Bush	124	(7)
V NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISERS: ROLES
Editors' Introduction	131	(10)
14 Forum on the Role of A National Security Adviser.
Woodrow Wilson International Center and Baker Institute	141	(17)
15 The NSC Advisor: Process Manager and More.
Colin L. Powell	158	(4)
16 The Lessons of the Iran-Contra Affair for National Security Policy Making.
Cecil V. Crabb, Jr. and Kevin V. Mulcahy	162	(11)
VI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISERS: PROFILES Editors' Introduction	173	(44)
17 McGeorge Bundy.
Kai Bird	183	(5)
18 Henry Kissinger.
Marvin Kalb and Bernard Kalb	188	(6)
19 Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Dom Bonafede	194	(9)
20 Brent Scowcroft.
David Lauter	203	(5)
21 Samuel R. Berger.
R.W. Apple, Jr.	208	(5)
22 Condoleezza Rice.
Elaine Sciolino	213	(4)
VII PERFORMANCE
Editors' Introduction	217	(16)
23 The Cuban Missile Crisis.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.	233	(3)
24 The Transition from the Cold War.
George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft	236	(17)
25 Conflict in the Balkans.
Eric Moskowitz and Jeffrey S. Lantis	253	(15)
26 The War Against Terrorism.
Dan Balz and Bob Woodward	268	(15)
VIII CONTROVERSIES
Editors' Introduction	283	(6)
27 America's Departments of State.
Bert A. Rockman	289	(19)
28 The NSC Staff as Rogue Elephant.
Tower Commission	308	(8)
29 Congress and the NSC.
Inouye-Hamilton Committee	316	(19)
IX REFORMS
Editors' Introduction	335	(6)
30 Recommendations on Organizing for National Security.
Tower Commission	341	(7)
31 The President and the Secretary of State.
Theodore C. Sorensen	348	(10)
32 A New NSC for a New Administration.
Ivo H. Daalder and I.M. Destler	358	(7)
33 Road Map for National Security: Imperative for Change.
Hart-Rudman Report	365	(6)
FOR FURTHER READING	371	(4)
INDEX	375