Please, not more shrinkage at the NSC
Laura Rozen’s latest Cable post suggests that the Obama administration might be falling into the same trap that befell the Clinton and Bush administrations: [There are] only a dozen or so positions to be filled [at the NSC] immediately, given that much of the NSC staff is seconded from other federal agencies who will hold ...
Laura Rozen's latest Cable post suggests that the Obama administration might be falling into the same trap that befell the Clinton and Bush administrations:
Laura Rozen’s latest Cable post suggests that the Obama administration might be falling into the same trap that befell the Clinton and Bush administrations:
[There are] only a dozen or so positions to be filled [at the NSC] immediately, given that much of the NSC staff is seconded from other federal agencies who will hold over in the new administration’s early months. Not only that, but the Obama team reportedly plans to scale back the NSC from its Bush/Cheney days. Under Bush, the NSC had six deputy national security advisor positions; the Obamans are looking to a more traditional, flatter model, my sources tell me, with as few as one deputy national security advisor and senior directors for different regional and functional areas below that (Europe, etc.).
Now, a flatter model may or may not be a good idea. If "scaling back" includes cutting the NSC staff more generally, however, it would be a boneheaded move. Worse, it would replicate the exact same boneheaded move made by the previous two administrations. When Condi Rice came to the NSC, she pruned the staff by a third. Similarly, the NSC was cut in the first years of the Clinton administration to honor candidate Clinton’s pledge to cut White House staff by 25%.
In the end, the NSC has no resources except access to the president and staff. To actually coordinate or implement foreign policy, the NSC needs to be on top of what other agencies are doing. A smaller staff makes that task much more difficult. Indeed, after policy coordination miscues in the early years of their administrations, both Clinton and Bush wound up reversing course on the NSC.
Hopefully, Obama will learn from their mistakes — because nobody likes shrinkage.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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