U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is expected to eliminate a White House advisory body established by his predecessor to address domestic counterterrorism and disaster response issues, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Dec. 17, 2008).
To carry out the Homeland Security Council's responsibilities, Obama would likely appoint former National Counterterrorism Center chief John Brennan to a new National Security Council deputy adviser post, members of Obama's transition team said. They noted that a final choice on the homeland security body would be reached following an official assessment expected after the Jan. 20 inauguration.
“It’s pretty clear they’ve made the decision,” said Frances Townsend, former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush. “It’s a question of timing and how they’re going to roll it out.”
Advocates contend the move would eliminate redundancy from the activities of the two councils, but national security adviser Stephen Hadley and other Bush administration officials have warned it could overburden the National Security Council and prevent important priorities from being addressed.
"The National Security Council is focused outside,” added Nancy Dragani, head of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency and the National Emergency Management Association. “They’re not going to be, nor should they be, consumed with worrying about what’s happening in Ohio.”
However, a November 2008 report by the Third Way and the Center for American Progress Action Fund suggests that security issues within and outside of the country are strongly interlinked.
“It was an artificial distinction to begin with,” said Third Way Vice President Matt Bennett. “Homeland security is a function of national security in its purest form.”
“It was very hard to get DHS on the NSC radar,” added former Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Stewart Verdery. “You want your issues considered. You don’t want to be off in some second bucket” (Peter Baker, New York Times, Jan. 8).