The Structures of National Security Decision Making: Leadership, Institutions, And Politics In The Carter, Reagan, And G. H. W. Bush Years.

Decision making for national security is not a static process in which committee responsibilities and procedural protocols that are established during the transition function in the standard mode throughout the tenure of an administration. Presidents adjust their decision-making structures from time to time when they perceive that the standard interagency procedures no longer serve their political purposes. An earlier study of this notion examined the reasons why presidents make these adjustments. This paper follows from that premise.