Fateful Decisions

Fateful Decisions PDF

Author: Karl Inderfurth

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 9780195159653

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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.

Improving Decisionmaking in a Turbulent World

Improving Decisionmaking in a Turbulent World PDF

Author: Charles P. Ries

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2016-04-05

Total Pages: 69

ISBN-13: 083309453X

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Every president needs a decisionmaking system that harnesses the full capabilities and accumulated wisdom of the U.S. government and the nation’s many stakeholders. This Perspective analyzes a range of management challenges in the national security system and presents recommendations for strengthening U.S. decisionmaking and oversight of policy implementation.

Fateful Decisions

Fateful Decisions PDF

Author: Karl Inderfurth

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 9780195159660

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The National Security Council (NSC) is the most important formal institution in the U.S. government for the creation and implementation of foreign and defense policy. The Council's four principal members--the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Defense--are responsible for incredibly far-reaching decisions regarding war and peace, diplomacy, international trade, and covert operations. Despite its obvious importance, the NSC has been subject to relatively little scholarly scrutiny, and therefore remains misunderstood by most international relations students. Fateful Decisions: Inside the National Security Council provides students with valuable insights into the origins, workings, strengths, and weaknesses of the NSC. Covering the period from 1947 to 2003, Fateful Decisions features seminal articles, essays, and documents drawn from a variety of sources. The book presents and illuminates several obscure documents regarding the beginning of the NSC and its early years. It then examines the transformation of the NSC from a newly established, and initially ignored, advisory committee to the nation's premier forum for national security deliberations. The selections--written by prominent scholars, journalists, and practitioners--offer revealing coverage of major topics, such as key challenges to the NSC and the role of the NSC in a post-Cold War environment. The articles also discuss the rise of the National Security Adviser to a position of prominence and provide profiles of those who have held the position, including McGeorge Bundy, Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft, Samuel Berger, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice. Chronicling the performance of the NSC over the years, Fateful Decisions dissects both its successes and its failures--from the Cuban Missile Crisis through the Iran-contra affair, to the current war against global terrorism--and offers reform proposals to improve the Council's performance. It is ideal for courses on the NSC, national security decision-making, and U.S. foreign policy.

National Security Decisionmaking

National Security Decisionmaking PDF

Author: Yehuda Ben Meir

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-04-02

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 0429709749

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The study of national security decisionmaking is fraught with pitfalls. This statement holds true for any researcher, but all the more so for someone like this author, who has been actively engaged for many years in national security decisionmaking, at times at the highest levels. From the outset, I have been aware of the dangers of subjectivism, of injecting my own political attitudes and opinions, preconceived notions and biases into the material, the analyses and especially the conclusions and recommendations. I have endeavored, to the best of my ability, to undertake this research with the "disinterested curiosity" and objective neutrality which should be the hallmark of a good scientist and researcher. But no one can be totally disinterested in a process which has a direct bearing on his life and well-being; thus the only guarantee of the objectivity of such a work is the constant recognition and awareness of the danger of going astray, the advice and criticism of one's colleagues and, in the final analysis, one's own conscience.

The Oxford Handbook of U.S. National Security

The Oxford Handbook of U.S. National Security PDF

Author: Nikolas K. Gvosdev

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 705

ISBN-13: 0190680016

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"The Oxford Handbook of US National Security frames the context, institutions, and processes the US government uses to advance national interests through foreign policy, government institutions, and grand strategy. Contributors examine contemporary national security challenges and the processes and tools used to improve national security."--Provided by publisher.

Zion's Dilemmas

Zion's Dilemmas PDF

Author: Charles D. Freilich

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2012-09-28

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0801465303

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In Zion's Dilemmas, a former deputy national security adviser to the State of Israel details the history and, in many cases, the chronic inadequacies in the making of Israeli national security policy. Chuck Freilich identifies profound, ongoing problems that he ascribes to a series of factors: a hostile and highly volatile regional environment, Israel's proportional representation electoral system, and structural peculiarities of the Israeli government and bureaucracy.Freilich uses his insider understanding and substantial archival and interview research to describe how Israel has made strategic decisions and to present a first of its kind model of national security decision-making in Israel. He analyzes the major events of the last thirty years, from Camp David I to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, through Camp David II, the Gaza Disengagement Plan of 2005, and the second Lebanon war of 2006.In these and other cases he identifies opportunities forgone, failures that resulted from a flawed decision-making process, and the entanglement of Israeli leaders in an inconsistent, highly politicized, and sometimes improvisational planning process. The cabinet is dysfunctional and Israel does not have an effective statutory forum for its decision-making—most of which is thus conducted in informal settings. In many cases policy objectives and options are poorly formulated. For all these problems, however, the Israeli decision-making process does have some strengths, among them the ability to make rapid and flexible responses, generally pragmatic decision-making, effective planning within the defense establishment, and the skills and motivation of those involved. Freilich concludes with cogent and timely recommendations for reform.

National Security Decisionmaking

National Security Decisionmaking PDF

Author: Yehuda Ben Meir

Publisher:

Published: 2019-09-13

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 9780367006778

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The study of national security decisionmaking is fraught with pitfalls. This statement holds true for any researcher, but all the more so for someone like this author, who has been actively engaged for many years in national security decisionmaking, at times at the highest levels. From the outset, I have been aware of the dangers of subjectivism, of injecting my own political attitudes and opinions, preconceived notions and biases into the material, the analyses and especially the conclusions and recommendations. I have endeavored, to the best of my ability, to undertake this research with the "disinterested curiosity" and objective neutrality which should be the hallmark of a good scientist and researcher. But no one can be totally disinterested in a process which has a direct bearing on his life and well-being; thus the only guarantee of the objectivity of such a work is the constant recognition and awareness of the danger of going astray, the advice and criticism of one's colleagues and, in the final analysis, one's own conscience.

Honest Broker?

Honest Broker? PDF

Author: John P. Burke

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 508

ISBN-13: 9781603440981

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Examines the history of the office of national security in the United States from its inception, describing how the role of the national security advisor to the president has evolved between the 1950s and 2000s, and discusses the influence of the national security advisor on the commander in chief's decisions.

Fixing the Facts

Fixing the Facts PDF

Author: Joshua Rovner

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2011-07-26

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 0801463149

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What is the role of intelligence agencies in strategy and policy? How do policymakers use (or misuse) intelligence estimates? When do intelligence-policy relations work best? How do intelligence-policy failures influence threat assessment, military strategy, and foreign policy? These questions are at the heart of recent national security controversies, including the 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq. In both cases the relationship between intelligence and policy broke down—with disastrous consequences. In Fixing the Facts, Joshua Rovner explores the complex interaction between intelligence and policy and shines a spotlight on the problem of politicization. Major episodes in the history of American foreign policy have been closely tied to the manipulation of intelligence estimates. Rovner describes how the Johnson administration dealt with the intelligence community during the Vietnam War; how President Nixon and President Ford politicized estimates on the Soviet Union; and how pressure from the George W. Bush administration contributed to flawed intelligence on Iraq. He also compares the U.S. case with the British experience between 1998 and 2003, and demonstrates that high-profile government inquiries in both countries were fundamentally wrong about what happened before the war.

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