ABSTRACT
Presidents choose advisory systems based on their cognitive needs, specifically based on their feelings of efficacy, the way they process information, how they deal with conflict and the level of control they require. In some sense this idea is also reminiscent of the devil’s advocate where an individual adopts a role in the advisory system and associated with that role are a set of explicitly defined responsibilities, such as, in the case of the devil’s advocate, the responsibility of presenting opposing options. Each advisory system has drawbacks, which is typically the source of problems within an administration. By prescribing multiple advocacy as an advisory system, the expectation must be that presidents can and will adapt themselves to a system that may not fit their cognitive needs. The cases examined demonstrate that once a president establishes a particular advisory system and sets that system in motion, it is rare that he will change the system or the decision-making process mid-stream.
