The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the national security council used by the president of the United States for consideration of national security,military,and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House,it is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States,and composed of senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.
The assistant to the president for national security affairs (APNSA),commonly referred to as the national security advisor (NSA),is a senior aide in the Executive Office of the President,based at the West Wing of the White House.
Brent Scowcroft was a United States Air Force officer who was a two-time United States National Security Advisor,first under U.S. President Gerald Ford and then under George H. W. Bush. He served as Military Assistant to President Richard Nixon and as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs in the Nixon and Ford administrations. He served as Chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005,and advised President Barack Obama on choosing his national security team.
Michèle Angélique Flournoy is an American defense policy advisor who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy under President Bill Clinton and under secretary of defense for policy under President Barack Obama.
Morton H. Halperin is an American analyst who deals with U.S. foreign policy,arms control,civil liberties,and the workings of bureaucracies.
Mary Louise Kelly is an American broadcaster and author. She anchors the daily news show All Things Considered on National Public Radio (NPR),and previously covered national security at the network. Prior to NPR she reported for CNN and the BBC in London. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times,The Washington Post,The Wall Street Journal,Newsweek,The Atlantic,and other publications. Her first novel,Anonymous Sources,was published in 2013;her second,The Bullet,in 2015;and her memoir,It. Goes. So. Fast.:The Year of No Do-Overs,in 2023.
Thomas Edward Donilon is an American lawyer,business executive,and former government official who served as the 22nd National Security Advisor in the Obama administration from 2010 to 2013. Donilon also worked in the Carter and Clinton administrations. He is now Chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute,the firm's global think tank.
John Francis Kelly is an American former political advisor and retired U.S. Marine Corps general who was White House chief of staff for President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. He had previously been the secretary of homeland security in the Trump administration and was commander of United States Southern Command. Kelly is a board member at Caliburn International,a professional services provider.
Brian H. Hook is an American diplomat,lawyer and government official. In 2021,he joined Cerberus Capital Management as vice chairman for global investments. He is an adjunct professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy.
Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan is an American attorney who served as the U.S. National Security Advisor from 2021 to 2025 under president Joe Biden.
Noah Shachtman is an American journalist and musician. He was the editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone. From 2018 to 2021,he served as the editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. He previously was the executive editor of the site. A former non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution,he also worked as executive editor for News at Foreign Policy and as a contributing editor at Wired.
Victoria Curtin Gardner Coates is an American art historian,blogger and political consultant. She served as Senior Advisor to Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette in 2020 and later was appointed to run the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. She served on the United States National Security Council,originally as the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Strategic Assessments before getting promoted to Deputy National Security Advisor upon the nomination of Robert C. O'Brien.
Donald Trump assumed office as the 45th president of the United States on January 20,2017,and his first term ended on January 20,2021. The president has the authority to nominate members of his Cabinet to the United States Senate for confirmation under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.
David Lutz Norquist is an American financial management professional and former government official who served as the 34th United States deputy secretary of defense from 2019 to 2021. In May of 2022,Norquist was selected as the president and chief executive officer of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).
Kirstjen Michele Nielsen is an American attorney who served as United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019. She is a former principal White House deputy chief of staff to President Donald Trump,and was chief of staff to John F. Kelly during his tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security.
Steven Patrick Schrage is a former State Department,Congressional,and think tank official. He has appeared or provided comments on foreign affairs and politics for major media outlets including NBC Nightly News,Fox News,the BBC,the Washington Post,and the New York Times.
Brian Patrick McKeon is an American attorney and national security advisor who served as the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources in the Biden Administration from March 2021 to December 2022.
Karen H. Gibson is a retired military intelligence officer and former Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate
Julianne Smith is an American foreign policy advisor and diplomat who served as the United States Permanent Representative to NATO in the Biden administration from 2021 until 2024. She previously served as deputy national security advisor to then-Vice President Biden in the Obama administration.
Alexandra Nicole Baker,known as Sasha Baker,is an American policy advisor who served as deputy under secretary of defense for policy at the Department of Defense.
