CPOL 644 National Security Decision-Making
This course will examine the roles of the President, the Cabinet departments, and Executive Office Agencies, (with special emphasis on the National Security Council and CIA), in the formulation and implementation of foreign and national security policy. Special attention will be focused on the impact of White House organization and policy-making processes in shaping decisions. The course will begin with an historical overview of the role of the President and Congress in the realm of foreign and national security policy. Case studies will include the Korean War under Truman, the Bay of Pigs and early Vietnam decisions of the Kennedy years as well as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the major decisions on intervention and non-intervention in Vietnam of the Eisenhower and Johnson years, Operation Desert Storm under George Bush, the intelligence failures leading up to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, and the pre-war intelligence and Bush administration decisionmaking regarding the intervention in Iraq in 2003.