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Struggling with Standard Order: Challenges and Performance of the Trump National Security Council System
Author(s) -
Burke John P.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
presidential studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.337
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1741-5705
pISSN - 0360-4918
DOI - 10.1111/psq.12493
Subject(s) - deliberation , national security , order (exchange) , political science , foreign policy , national security council , criticism , public administration , executive order , white paper , law , public relations , politics , business , finance
This article examines issues that have emerged in the Trump national security system and its process of information analysis and deliberation during its first year and one half in office. It was troubled from the start, and it especially experienced a problematic transition period. It then faced the resignation of its initial National Security Council (NSC) advisor, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, less than a month after Trump was inaugurated. This article explores how Flynn’s eventual replacement, Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, confronted a challenging task in restoring order and in appointing new personnel. He also increasingly faced White House criticism of his performance as NSC advisor as well as numerous reports that his days in the post were numbered (which indeed proved to be the case). On March 22, 2018, President Trump announced that John Bolton would replace McMaster. Bolton quickly moved in changing key personnel and in putting his own imprint on the post. Throughout, the national security process was overshadowed by a president who lacked foreign policy experience and whose decision‐making patterns and practices were often problematic.