The Final State of the Union
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Summary:
The Administration has decided to change the name back of the National Security Staff to the National Security Council staff, which was the name the organization used from the signing of the National Security Act of 1947 until 2009
Today is an exciting day for the National Security Council staff. That’s right, I said it, we are once again the National Security Council staff. This change is a bit of inside baseball for foreign policy and national security wonks—and involves a mouthful of acronyms of course—but exciting for us nonetheless.
For those of you who don’t know, back in May 2009, when the Administration announced the merger of the National Security Council staff and the Homeland Security Council staff, the combined team was renamed the “National Security Staff”—or “NSS” for short. The name reflected a desire to ensure a cohesive and seamless consolidation of the two organizations. Now nearly four years later, and with the overwhelming support of the staff, the Administration has decided to change the name back to the National Security Council staff, which is the name our organization used from the signing of the National Security Act of 1947 until 2009.
The desire to change the name back is reflection of the very successful merger of the two organizations. The original goal was to end the artificial divide between White House staff dealing with national security and homeland security, and avoid stovepipes that could arise in the face of multiple threats that ignore the foreign-domestic divide. Given that the merger has done just that, and we are well aligned and organized to meet complex 21st century threats with the re-organization, we can revert to our historic and well recognized name, while maintaining a strong sense of cohesiveness and unity in supporting the President and the principals on his national security team.
The National Security Council staff, under the leadership of National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice, leverages the tremendous talent of the national security professionals from across the interagency who serve on it. We will continue to support all White House policymaking activities related to international, transnational, and homeland security matters to keep our country secure. And we’ll proudly do it, once again, as the NSC staff.
