DeYoung, Karen. "Obama's NSC Will Get New Power: Directive Expands Makeup and Role Of Security Body." Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2009, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]Materials presented in chronological order.
DeYoung, Karen. "Obama's NSC Will Get New Power: Directive Expands Makeup and Role Of Security Body." Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2009, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
According to national security adviser James L. Jones, "President Obama plans to order a sweeping overhaul of the National Security Council, expanding its membership and increasing its authority to set strategy across a wide spectrum of international and domestic issues.... Jones, a retired Marine general, made it clear that he will run the process and be the primary conduit of national security advice" to the President.
DeYoung, Karen. "National Security Structure Is Set: Under Obama, Council Will Grow." Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2009, A3. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
President Obama's NSC Policy Directive 1, signed on 13 February 2009, "adds the attorney general, the secretaries of energy and homeland security, and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to the formal National Security Council." National security adviser James L. Jones will set the NSC agenda, communicate the President's decisions to the others, determine when to call White House meetings of policymaking "principals," and oversee implementation of assigned tasks. The directive mandates that White House counsel, Gregory B. Craig, "shall be invited to attend every NSC meeting," along with deputy national security adviser Tom Donilon.
The President "has divided his national security orders into two categories: presidential policy directives, and presidential study directives, designed to initiate and direct policy reviews." Study Directive 1, dated 23 February 2009, "orders an interagency review of the White House homeland security and counterterrorism structure. Headed by counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan, the review will recommend whether to retain the separate the Homeland Security Council established under the Bush administration, or to incorporate some or all of its functions within the NSC."
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