The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum 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. The National Security Advisor serves as the principal advisor to the President of the United States on all national security issues. The National Security Advisor is appointed by the President and does not require confirmation by the United States Senate. An appointment of a three- or four-star General to the role requires Senate confirmation to maintain that rank in the new position. The National Security Advisor participates in meetings of the National Security Council (NSC) and usually chairs meetings of the Principals Committee of the NSC with the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense. The NSA also sits on the Homeland Security Council (HSC).The National Security Advisor is supported by NSC staff who produce classified research and briefings for the National Security Advisor to review and present, either to the National Security Council or directly to the President.
Herbert Raymond McMaster is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 25th United States National Security Advisor from 2017 to 2018. He is also known for his roles in the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Nancy Eileen McEldowney is an American academic and diplomat who served as the national security advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris from January 20, 2021 to March 21, 2022. She was previously a career Foreign Service officer, served as United States ambassador to Bulgaria (2008–2009), and was director of the Foreign Service Institute from February 2013 until June 2017.
The National Space Council is a body within the Executive Office of the President of the United States created in 1989 during the George H. W. Bush administration, disbanded in 1993, and reestablished in June 2017 by the Donald Trump administration. It is a modified version of the earlier National Aeronautics and Space Council (1958–1973).
Mike Donilon is an American attorney and campaign consultant who serves as a Senior Advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden. He was the chief strategist of Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. Prior, Donilon was working as a partner at AKPD Message and Media. Between 2009 and 2013, he served as Counselor to Vice President Biden in the Obama administration. Prior to his White House appointment, Donilon worked with the vice-presidential candidate to help him prepare for the debates and also as a traveling advisor.
The Office of the Vice President includes personnel who directly support or advise the vice president of the United States. The office is headed by the chief of staff to the vice president of the United States, currently Lorraine Voles. The office also provides staffing and support to the second gentleman of the United States. It is primarily housed in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, with offices for the vice president also in the West Wing, the U.S. Capitol, and in the vice president's official residence.
Philip H. Gordon is an American diplomat and foreign policy professional. Since March 21, 2022, he has served as Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. Earlier in his career, he was Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs (2009–2011) and Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf Region (2013–2015) during the presidency of Barack Obama.
Michael Thomas Flynn is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who was the 24th U.S. National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He resigned in light of reports that he had lied regarding conversations with Sergey Kislyak. Flynn's military career included a key role in shaping U.S. counterterrorism strategy and dismantling insurgent networks in the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and he was given numerous combat arms, conventional, and special operations senior intelligence assignments. He became the 18th director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in July 2012 until his forced retirement from the military in August 2014. During his tenure he gave a lecture on leadership at the Moscow headquarters of the Russian military intelligence directorate GRU, the first American official to be admitted entry to the headquarters.
Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan is an American political advisor who currently serves as the United States National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden. He was previously Director of Policy to President Barack Obama, National Security Advisor to then Vice President Biden and Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary Hillary Clinton at the U.S. Department of State. Sullivan also served as Senior Advisor to the U.S. federal government at the Iran nuclear negotiations and Senior Policy Advisor to Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, as well as visiting professor at Yale Law School.
Bathsheba "Sheba" Nell Crocker is an American diplomat who is currently serving as the Representative of the United States to the European Office of the United Nations. She previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from 2014 to 2017.
Joseph Keith Kellogg Jr. is a former United States government official and a retired lieutenant general in the United States Army. He previously served as the National Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, and as the Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the United States National Security Council in the Trump administration. He served as National Security Advisor on an acting basis following the resignation of Michael T. Flynn.
Benjamin H. Harris is an American economist who has served in several public-service positions, most notably as the chief economist and chief economic advisor to Vice President Joe Biden from 2014 until the end of the Obama administration. Harris is currently the executive director of the Kellogg Public-Private Interface at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the Chief Economist to the evidence-based policy organization Results for America, and the founder of the economic policy consulting firm Cherrydale Strategies. He is also a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal.
Colin Hackett Kahl is an American political adviser and academic serving as the under secretary of defense for policy in the Biden administration. Previously, Kahl served as the national security advisor to the vice president under then-Vice President Joe Biden. After the Obama administration, Kahl served as a Steven C. Házy Senior Fellow at Stanford University.
Andrea Lee Thompson is an American government official and former military officer. She is the former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. Prior to this, she was the National Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence. Before entering government service, she was a career intelligence officer in the United States Army.
The core White House staff appointments, and most Executive Office of the President officials generally, are not required to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, with a handful of exceptions. There are about 4,000 positions in the Executive Office of the President.
Olivia Troye is an American national security official who worked on national security and homeland security issues at the National Counterterrorism Center, the United States Department of Energy Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis. She went on to work in the Office of the Vice President of the United States as the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Mike Pence and also served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force as Pence's lead staffer on the Task Force. She resigned from the White House in August 2020.
The presidential transition of Joe Biden began on November 7, 2020 and ended on January 20, 2021. Unlike previous presidential transitions, which normally take place during the roughly 10-week period between the election in the first week of November and the inauguration on January 20, Biden's presidential transition was shortened somewhat because the General Services Administration under the outgoing Trump administration did not recognize Biden as the "apparent winner" until November 23.
There are about 4,000 positions in the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The core White House staff positions and most Executive Office positions are generally not required to be confirmed by the Senate. The positions that require Senate confirmation include: the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the chair and members of the Council of Economic Advisers, and the United States trade representative.
