POL 151 colleagues—Read Chapter 6 in our text (SWC, 2013) on the President and the Presidency. As you recall from reading the US Constitution, both the President and the Congress have important roles and powers related to national security. In many ways, the President pre-eminent but President’s power is not unlimited. To be effective in terms of national security matters, the President must lead a large, complex process that includes a number of key officials, and organizations. Our textbook calls this conglomeration the “National Security Establishment.” You identified several of these organizations in Discussion Board #5 and Discussion Board #3. For this Discussion Board (DB #6), you are going to look in greater detail at some key players.

TASK #1: What is the National Security Council (NSC)? Use your textbook and this link to the White House website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/ for background.

TASK #2: On April 4, 2017, the White House issued National Security Presidential Memorandum 4 (NSPM-4), available at:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/national-security-presidential-memorandum-4/

This document describes how President Trump’s NSC is organized. According to NSPM-4, who are the regular attendees at NSC meetings? List by position title.

TASK #3: Who are the people (list by name) who currently fill the positions you listed in your response to Task #2.

TASK #4: Choose two of the people (other than the President or the Vice President) listed in your response to Task #3 and provide a short biography, covering the following: gender, race/ethnicity, age, education, job or positions (brief summary) before their current appointment. Do they have any military experience? Do they have any experience as an elected official? Do they have any business experience?