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.
John Dimitri Negroponte is an American diplomat. In 2018, he was a James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is a former J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of International Affairs at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. Prior to this appointment, he served as a research fellow and lecturer in international affairs at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, United States Deputy Secretary of State (2007–2009), and the first ever Director of National Intelligence (2005–2007).
The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) and to direct and oversee the National Intelligence Program (NIP). All IC agencies report directly to the DNI. The DNI also serves, upon invitation, as an advisor to the president of the United States, the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council on all intelligence matters. The DNI, supported by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), produces the President's Daily Brief (PDB), a classified document including intelligence from all IC agencies, handed each morning to the president of the United States.
Willis David Gradison Jr. is an American politician from Ohio who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1993.
Stephen John Hadley is an American attorney and senior government official who served as the 20th United States National Security Advisor from 2005 to 2009. He served under President George W. Bush during the second term of his administration. Hadley was Deputy National Security Advisor during Bush's first term.
Robert G. Joseph is a senior scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy. He was the United States Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation, with ambassadorial rank. Prior to this post, Joseph was the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, a position he held until January 24, 2007. Joseph is known for being instrumental in creating the Proliferation Security Initiative and as the architect of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. He was also the US chief negotiator to Libya in 2003 who convinced the Libyans to give up their WMD programs. He also recently authored a book describing his experience in negotiating with Libya entitled "Countering WMD."
Hon. Carl W. Ford, Jr. is an American political scientist, consultant, defense administrator, and Asian specialist originally from Hot Springs, Arkansas. As Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, he headed the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) in the State Department from 2001 until 2003. He reported directly to then Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Robert Michael Kimmitt was United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury under President George W. Bush. He was nominated by President Bush on June 29, 2005. The United States Senate unanimously confirmed him on July 29, 2005, and he was sworn into office on August 16, 2005. Kimmitt served through the end of the Bush administration, leaving office on January 20, 2009.
Operation IA Feature, a covert Central Intelligence Agency operation, authorized U.S. government support for Jonas Savimbi's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and Holden Roberto's National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) militants in the Angolan Civil War. It was closely linked with parallel efforts by South Africa and Zaire. President Gerald Ford approved the program on July 18, 1975 despite strong opposition from officials in the State Department and the CIA. The program's discovery shocked Congress into barring further U.S. involvement in Angola's Civil War through the Clark Amendment.
The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) was a nonpartisan non-profit organization mandated by the United States Congress to recommend improvements to the U.S. national security system. Advocates of reform of the U.S. national security system contend that the fundamental components of the system, which includes the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Central Intelligence Agency, among others, were largely designed via the National Security Act of 1947 in order to combat the Soviet Union. Today's global security environment, largely due to globalization, is much more complex than it was during the Cold War. PNSR argues that government structures need to be more agile and efficient in order to combat new threats such as terrorism, transnational crime, and rogue states.
Michael Bruce Donley is a United States government official who is the director of administration and management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense since May 2021, having served in the same position from 2005 to 2008. In the Bush and Obama administrations, Donley served as the 22nd secretary of the Air Force, amongst other positions. Donley has 30 years of experience in the national security community, including service on the staff of the United States Senate, White House and The Pentagon.
Thomas E. "Ted" McNamara is a United States diplomat and State Department official.
Lincoln Palmer Bloomfield Jr. is an American diplomat and national security adviser who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs in the George W. Bush Administration, and as Dan Quayle's Assistant for National Security Affairs.
Eric J. Boswell is an American diplomat who served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security from 2008 to 2012. He previously served in the same post from 1996 to 1998.
Francis Xavier Taylor was the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), nominated by President Obama in 2014. In that role, he provided the Secretary, DHS senior leadership, the DHS components, and state, local, tribal and private sector partners with homeland security intelligence and information they need to keep the country safe, secure and resilient. DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis is a member of, and the Department’s liaison to, the U.S. Intelligence Community.
G. Philip Hughes is an American diplomat who served as Ambassador of the United States to Barbados, Dominica, St Lucia, Antigua, St. Vincent, and St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla from 1990 to 1993, under George H. W. Bush. He is also an adjunct professor at the Institute of World Politics, teaching a course on "The Art of Diplomacy".
Command Group, "CG", founded as Command Consulting Group, is an international security and intelligence consulting firm, founded in 2009, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States. CG provides advisory services for governments, corporations, and high net worth individuals.
Julius Louis Katz was United States Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, appointed by President Ford. He served in that post from 1976 to 1979.
Rajesh "Raj" De is an American lawyer and former U.S. government official who later became the managing partner for the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm Mayer Brown. During the presidency of Barack Obama, he served in three significant government roles—as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy, as White House Staff Secretary, and finally as general counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency.
Jonathan Eugene Meyer is an American lawyer and government official who has served as the sixth general counsel of the United States Department of Homeland Security since 2021.
