ISWS Seminar Series: U.S. National Security Decision Making --- Theory and Practice Guest Speaker - Colonel Richard Hooker

Over previous decades the U.S. has evolved a formal system for national security decision making, usually referred to as “the interagency process,” led by the national security council staff, involving a network of interagency working groups organized by issue area and reporting to deputies and principals on a regular recurring basis. These in turn provide fully staffed recommendations to the president for decision. In practice, however, this system is often sidelined or ignored, hindering or preventing successful outcomes. The key factor is presidential attention and involvement. Where absent or limited, the interagency process can often fail.