ABSTRACT
The presidential decision-making system inevitably elevated the head of the National Security Council (NSC) staff into an increasingly important policy player. The presidential system works only if the president imposes it explicitly, making it clear that his national security adviser is a direct extension of the president's own deliberate involvement. Membership on the NSC staff by definition confers a staff role— to plan strategy, coordinate, supervise, and, for the national security adviser, to advise the president. The presidential decision-making system inevitably elevated the head of the NSC staff into an increasingly important policy player. Institutionalization reached its peak under Eisenhower, and in time the NSC process lost its cutting edge. In the 1950s the NSC was excessively institutionalized. In the 1970s it was excessively personalized. In the 1980s it has been excessively degraded. Ss a deliberative body, the NSC should be used to develop a wider process of informal consultations with congressional leaders.
