Part I -the Centrality of Institutions, Policy, and Process Staying Left of Boom: the Central and Essential Role of the Nsc Synopsis:

PART I - THE CENTRALITY OF INSTITUTIONS,

POLICY, AND PROCESS

Staying Left of Boom: The Central and Essential

Role of the NSC

James E. Baker*

Synopsis: The NSC — the Council, the process, and the staff - will remain

central and essential to the government’s counterterrorism mission. First,

military and intelligence activities to counter terrorism will increasingly rely

on the President’s constitutional authority. Second, the recognition of new

threats in the form of emerging technologies and domestic terrorism necessi-

tate a national response and the resolution of legal policy questions that

require Presidential authority and bureaucratic leadership to address. Third,

the U.S. having learned to use all the instruments of national power to coun-

ter terrorism, the NSC will remain the forum where choices are made about

which tools to use in context. However, with the focus on new challenges, the

end of the “Forever Wars,” and the drift away from “a Global War on

Terrorism” the President and his immediate staff will devote less attention to

the counterterrorism mission as it changes. These factors place a premium on

good NSC process, including internal and external transparency, purposeful

staff‌ing, and maintaining contact with the counterterrorism mission. These

are not diff‌icult “lessons” to identify; the challenge - as always - is in apply-

ing the lesson in the context of competing domestic and international prior-

ities and real-world crises. This article suggests ways to embed good process

into the NSC system to better meet the challenges ahead.

INTRODUCTION: THE CENTRAL AND ESSENTIAL ROLE OF THE NSC . . . . . . . . . 16

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING CONTACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

II. THE AUTHORITY TO ACT OVERSEAS WILL DERIVE FROM THE PRESIDENT’S

CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

III. A TIMELY AND TRANSPARENT PROCESS OF DECISION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

* James E. Baker is Director of the Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law and a

Professor at the Syracuse College of Law and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He

previously served as a Judge and Chief Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. As a

career civil servant, he served as Legal Adviser and Deputy Legal Adviser to the National Security

Council. Baker has also served as a Counsel to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and

Oversight Board, an attorney in the State Department, a legislative aide to Sen. Daniel Patrick

Moynihan, and as a Marine Corps infantry off‌icer. © 2021, James E. Baker.

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