Obama Expands National Security Council

Obama Risks Cabinet Clashes to Expand National Security Council

By Hans Nichols
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March 5 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama has expanded his National Security Council to seek a range of foreign policy viewpoints beyond the Defense and State departments. He’ll soon find out if bigger is better.

The success of Obama’s national security reorganization may depend on how well a bigger group of top officials, including Attorney General Eric Holder, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, can get along with the likes of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the White House Situation Room.

“The human factor is really, really important,” said Leon Fuerth, a professor at George Washington University and a member of the nonpartisan Project for National Security Reform. NSC members will have “a choice about whether they are also prepared to operate as a team.”

Obama’s “Presidential Policy Directive 1,” dated Feb. 13, added agency heads and United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice to the reconfigured NSC, which advises the president on national security and foreign policy decisions. Vice President Joe Biden, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and national security adviser James Jones are also members of the group.

A lack of dissenting opinions in President George W. Bush’s national security structure contributed to missteps and intelligence failures that helped send the nation to war, said University of Maryland professor Mac Destler.

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