CRS INSIGHT
"Right-Sizing" the National Security Council Staff?
June 30, 2016 (IN10521)
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Related Author
Kathleen J. McInnis
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Kathleen J. McInnis, Analyst in International Security (kmcinnis@crs.loc.gov, 7-1416)
Currently, the main vehicle through which coordination among different U.S. government agencies on national security
matters takes place is the National Security Council (NSC). As part of its defense reform deliberations, Congress is
considering whether the modern National Security Council and its staff—established in 1947 to help oversee U.S.
global security interests—is optimized to enable the United States to meet current and emerging threats (see CRS
Report R44508, Fact Sheet: FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) DOD Reform Proposals
, by Kathleen
J. McInnis).
What is the National Security Council?
The National Security Council is the President's advisory body on matters related to national and international security.
Pursuant to Title 50 U.S.C §3021, the NSC's statutory members are the President, Vice President, the Secretary of
State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Energy. Other senior officials participate in NSC deliberations at
the President's request. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence are the
NSC's statutory advisers. The NSC is directed by the Presidentially-appointed National Security Advisor (NSA) and
supported by a National Security Staff (NSS, or NSC staff) comprising permanent employees of the Executive Office
of the President and "detailees" from other government agencies serving temporary assignments. The NSC staff, and
the interagency coordination processes it oversees, are the primary Executive Branch vehicles for synchronizing policy
and adjudicating policy differences across U.S. government agencies on national security matters.
NSC functions: Theory vs. Practice
The 1947 National Security Act established the NSC in order to "advise the President with respect to the integration of
domestic, foreign, and military policies relating to the national security so as to enable the military services and the
other departments and agencies of the government to cooperate more effectively in matters involving the national
security." Presidents have latitude to structure and use the NSC as they see fit. In practice, the NSC staff's activities
now extend somewhat beyond providing policy advice. First, as one former NSC official notes, "White House
involvement is often needed for precise execution of policy, especially when secrecy is required to perform delicate
tasks." Second, the rise in strategic importance of transnational threats such as terrorism and narco-trafficking, along
with post-Cold War military campaigns in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, have increasingly necessitated "whole of
government" responses that leverage diplomatic, military, and development tools from a variety of different U.S.
