United States National Security Council
Agency overview
Formed	1947
Agency executives	Barack Obama, President of the United States, Chairman Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States John Kerry, Secretary of State Chuck Hagel, United States Secretary of Defense Tom Donilon, National Security Advisor
Parent Agency	Executive Office of the President of the United States
Website
NSC Website

President Barack Obama at a NSC Meeting in the Situation Room. Participants include Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, NSC Advisor Gen. James "Jim" Jones, Director of National Intelligence(DNI) Dennis Blair, Deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, White House Counsel Greg Craig, CIA Director Leon Panetta, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright, and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel

The White House National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Since its inception under Harry S. Truman, the function of the Council has been to advise and assist the president on national security and foreign policies. The Council also serves as the president's principal arm for coordinating these policies among various government agencies. The Council has counterparts in the national security councils of many other nations.

History [edit]

The National Security Council was created in 1947 by the National Security Act. It was created because policymakers felt that the diplomacy of the State Department was no longer adequate to contain the USSR in light of the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States.^[1] The intent was to ensure coordination and concurrence among the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force and other instruments of national security policy such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), also created in the National Security Act.

On May 26, 2009, President Barack Obama merged the White House staff supporting the Homeland Security Council (HSC) and the National Security Council into one National Security Staff (NSS). The HSC and NSC each continue to exist by statute as bodies supporting the President.^[2]

The decision process inside the structure has become less and less formal but influence of the Council has become stronger and stronger. Detailed history of the National Security Council under each Presidential administration since its inception can be found at:

• History
  • 1947–1953
  • 1953–1961
  • 1961–1963
  • 1963–1969
  • 1969–1974
  • 1974–1977
  • 1977–1981
  • 1981–1989
  • 1989–1992
  • 1993–present

Membership [edit]

The National Security Council is chaired by the President. Its regular attendees (both statutory and non-statutory) are the Vice President (statutory), the Secretary of State (statutory), the Secretary of Defense (statutory), the National Security Advisor (non-statutory), and the Secretary of Treasury (non-statutory),

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the statutory military advisor to the Council, the Director of National Intelligence is the statutory intelligence advisor, and the Director of National Drug Control Policy is the statutory drug control policy advisor. The Chief of Staff to the President, Counsel to the President, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy are also regularly invited to attend NSC meetings. The Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget are invited to attend meetings pertaining to their responsibilities. The heads of other executive departments and agencies, as well as other senior officials, are invited to attend meetings of the NSC when appropriate.

Staff [edit]

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2011)

• Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs: Thomas E. Donilon^[5]
  • Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and Deputy National Security Advisor: Lisa Monaco
    • Deputy Assistant to the President for Homeland Security: Richard Reed
  • Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor: Tony Blinken
    • Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications: Ben Rhodes
      • Spokesman: Caitlin Hayden
    • Deputy Assistant to the President, Deputy White House Counsel and Legal Advisor to the National Security Council: Mary DeRosa
    • Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs: Michael Froman
    • Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Council Chief of Staff and Counselor: Brooke D. Anderson
      • Special Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary of the National Security Council: Nate Tibbits
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform: Derek Chollet
      • Special Assistant to the President, Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan: Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute
      • Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for Arms Control and WMD, Proliferation and Terrorism: Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall^[5]
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs: Samantha Power
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Global Development, Stabilization and Humanitarian Assistance: Gayle Smith
      • Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel^[5]
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Non-Proliferation: Dan Poneman
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Defense: Christine Wormuth
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs: Mike Epperson
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism: Nick Rasmussen
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs: Dan Restrepo
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Europe:
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russia and Eurasian Affairs: Alice Wells
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region: Dennis Ross
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and North Africa: Daniel B. Shapiro
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Africa: Michelle Gavin
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Gulf States, Iran and Iraq: Puneet Talwar
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for South Asia: Anish Goel
      • Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia: Daniel Russel
      • Senior Director for Community Partnerships: Quintan Wiktorowicz

Authority [edit]

The National Security Council was established by the National Security Act of 1947 (PL 235 – 61 Stat. 496; U.S.C. 402), amended by the National Security Act Amendments of 1949 (63 Stat. 579; 50 U.S.C. 401 et seq.). Later in 1949, as part of the Reorganization Plan, the Council was placed in the Executive Office of the President.

High Value Detainee Interrogation Group [edit]

The High Value Detainee Interrogation Group reports to the NSC.^[6]

Kill authorizations [edit]

A secret National Security Council panel may pursue the killing of an individual who has been called a suspected terrorist.^[7] In this case, no public record of this decision or any operation to kill the suspect will be made available.^[7] No laws govern criteria for killing such suspects, nor mandate the existence of the panel.^[7]

National Security advisor John O. Brennan, who has helped codify targeted killing criteria by creating the Disposition Matrix database, has described the Obama Administration targeted killing policy by stating that "in order to ensure that our counterterrorism operations involving the use of lethal force are legal, ethical, and wise, President Obama has demanded that we hold ourselves to the highest possible standards and processes."^[8]

It is unknown who has been placed on the kill list; Mark Hosenball, a Reuters reporter, alleges Anwar al-Awlaki was on the list.^[7]

On February 4, 2013, NBC published a leaked Department of Justice memo providing a summary of the rationale used to justify targeted killing of US citizens who are senior operational leaders of Al-Qa'ida or associated forces.^[9]

See also [edit]

United States portal

• National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-Terrorism
• National Security Medal
• Iran Contra
• Targeted killing
• Tower Commission

References [edit]

Additional sources [edit]

• NSC page at the White House website
• Story on the NSC in Foreign Policy journal.
• Annual Report To Congress On White House Office Staff; Executive Office of the President, Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Further reading [edit]

• Ivo H. Daalder and I.M. Destler, In the Shadow of the Oval Office: Profiles of the National Security Advisers and the Presidents They Served—From JFK to George W. Bush Simon & Schuster; 2009, ISBN 978-1-4165-5319-9.
• Karl F. Inderfurth and Loch K. Johnson, eds. Fateful Decisions: Inside the National Security Council. Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-19-515966-0.
• James Peck (2006). Washington's China: The National Security World, the Cold War, and the Origins of Globalism. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press. 
• David J. Rothkopf, Running The World: the Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power, PublicAffairs; 2006, ISBN 978-1-58648-423-1.
• Journey to the Center of the World: U.S. National Security Council – Arzın Merkezine Seyahat: ABD Ulusal Güvenlik Konseyi – Article on US NSC in Turkish
• Cody M. Brown, The National Security Council: A Legal History of the President's Most Powerful Advisers, Project on National Security Reform (2008).
• M. Kent Bolton, U.S. National Security and Foreign Policymaking after 9/11: Present at the Re-Creation, Rowman & Littlefield; 2007, ISBN 978-0-7425-4847-3.

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: National Security Council

• Official National Security Council website
• Records of the National Security Council (NSC) in the National Archives
• White House Office, National Security Council Staff Papers, 1948–1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
• Homeland Security Watch (www.HLSwatch.com) provides current details on the NSC as it pertains to homeland security.

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