National Security Council - Obama Presidency Oral History Back National Security Council Index / Organizations Transcripts Chuck Hagel ...to come from the White House and the National Security Council [NSC] and the president, along wit... ...and the National Security Council [ NSC ] and the president, along with Stat... ...Well, the White House through the National Security Council , through the national securit... ...we'd had a lot of discussions in the National Security Council with our Central Command and with th... ...and strategic guidance from the National Security Council staff under the guidance of th... ...confined in the White House than the National Security Council . And, I might add, the Stat... ...August becomes an urgent issue at the NSC about whether the United States shoul... ...We had many meetings about this in the National Security Council . What we did, we wanted to firs... ...options. We went around the table, the National Security Council , and all agreed. We agreed on th... ...to the United States. They had one last National Security Council meeting before they pushed the butto... ...out about it. The next morning we had a National Security Council meeting. He then explained, which th... ...the president saying to me and National Security Council , “I want no boots on the ground i... ...East. But I remember going back to National Security Council meetings right after that happened, an... ...and we had a number of people in the National Security Council wanted to immediately, abruptly... ...I had a lot of meetings. We had National Security Council meetings. I think it was pretty clear... ...they did that. I remember one day, a National Security Council meeting. It was on a Friday. Th... Show more... Evan Medeiros ...and senior director for Asia on the National Security Council . From 2009 to 2013, he was directo... ...for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia on the NSC [National Security Council]. Prior t... ...Taiwan, and Mongolia on the NSC [ National Security Council ]. Prior to joining the Obam... ...professor because of my time at the NSC and my ability to explain how the worl... ...we're fast forwarding to my time to the NSC , but where I saw US foreign polic... ...begin, that ends with you joining the NSC as director for China, Taiwan, an... ...first senior director for Asia at the NSC , largely because we were all caught b... ...with you. But he ends up at the NSC . I tell Jeff, I'd like to be at th... ...NSC. I tell Jeff, I'd like to be at the NSC . In large part because you want t... ...that you're committed to, and the NSC , it's the White House, it's th... ...process. So Jeff puts me forward for an NSC job. The problem was that the NSC ha... ...an NSC job. The problem was that the NSC had a really, really slim budget. An... ...most of the people that worked at the NSC , especially at the level o... ...working on getting a plus up to the NSC budget that was part of som... ...precise date—I joined the staff of the National Security Council . I want to ask about the selection o... ...were plenty of tensions between the NSC and the State Department. That's norma... ...because they weren't brought into key NSC discussions. So that's not new. Th... ...included some interactions with the NSC . I had a general sense, but not reall... ...sense, but not really very much. The NSC in general, even if I had two months... ...happened was, by the time I got to the NSC , the president and his advisors ha... ...I had to put this all together. The NSC is a complicated place, having worke... ...an interagency meeting chaired by the NSC . It's very roundabout and discursive... ...that you were responsible for at the NSC ? As you mentioned, he had a very ful... ...back from the front office of the NSC that would have this stamp that sai... ...was some of the funnest time in the NSC early on, because you got to watch, fo... ...want to come back to your work on the NSC , looking to your own personal pivot t... ...senior director, I had been at the NSC for almost four years, so I had see... ...And then, of course, four years at the NSC , there's a certain level of emotiona... ...and energy on over my six years at the NSC was probably that. By the end of—do yo... ...US–Japan relationship. After I left the NSC , Obama visits Hiroshima, embraces ... ...2013. I subsequently, after I left the NSC and traveled to Vietnam, met wit... ...I'm wondering if, in your work on the NSC , that was a tension you felt, and i... ...know towards the end—and I departed the NSC in 2015—there was quite a bit o... ...from government. You were on the NSC for six years as you said, which is n... ...so to speak, but when you get into the NSC , you actually get to operate th... ...of my pet hobbies since the NSC is to read a lot more history, becaus... ...your role in coordinating that from the NSC , and any memories you have. Yes. S... Show more... William Taylor ...Congress. In the White House, in the NSC [National Security Council], I don'... ...In the White House, in the NSC [ National Security Council ], I don't remember. We had, of course... ...long answer to your question about the NSC [unclear] allowed, encouraged... ...And the State Department lawyers and National Security Council tied themselves into knots to avoi... ...and strong support most of the National Security Council . About this time, the three of u... ...to the Ukrainians. I'm told that the National Security Council –again, who reflected this positiv... Show more... Michael Posner ...the different regional offices in the NSC [National Security Council], the huma... ...different regional offices in the NSC [ National Security Council ], the human rights issue probably wa... ...pushed it very hard when he was in the NSC and then when he was ambassador t... Michael Leiter ...Obama presidency was working with the National Security Council [NSC]. Again, if those first two thing... ...with the National Security Council [ NSC ]. Again, if those first two thing... ...intelligence piece and working with the National Security Council to actually forge an effective set o... ...in my view, more so, frankly, that the National Security Council and Interagency ability to actually d... ...division of responsibility between the NSC messaging team and John Brennan as th... ...all the kind of Ben Rhodes team on the NSC .” I didn't much care who owned it. T... ...the people on the messaging team at the NSC were, again, substantively weak... ...and fundamentally the NSC never wanted to really pursue it. If ... ...grading departments and agencies. The NSC never stood up and really said, “No, w... ...of appreciation for the challenges the National Security Council faces in trying to balance all of thes... ...I'll say something more positive. As a National Security Council , when the government is so large, i... ...or whatever else. The White House, the NSC , and I think especially Ben, more s... ...for the difference between an NSC coordination role and an operationa... ...our homework graded in front of the NSC .” Even Denis, who was quite ... ...was sort of daily Deputies Committee, Principals Committee meeting, talking through the plannin... ...to deny something, having the entire National Security Council get up and walk out of the White Hous... Show more... Arturo Valenzuela ...for inter-American affairs at the National Security Council [NSC]. Dr. Valenzuela has served as a... ...at the National Security Council [ NSC ]. Dr. Valenzuela has served as a... ...for Western Hemisphere affairs in the National Security Council . Given the continued challenges in th... ...I think that having been at the National Security Council really gave me a much-broader sense o... ...difficult situations when I was at the National Security Council , including, for example, Pla... ...of the agencies. Remember that at the National Security Council , the senior directors essentially ru... ...of cabinet members assigned to the National Security Council . And if there's an issue, th... ...chair that meeting. The job of the National Security Council senior director—the position that ... ...coordinated with the White House, the National Security Council , as well as with other agencies. Yo... ...Rob Malley, who would later work at the NSC and become the head of th... ...and so on. Then, when I went to the NSC in the second Clinto... ...briefly jump back to my time at the National Security Council ; because when I was at the Nationa... ...Council; because when I was at the National Security Council —actually, no, it goes back to even th... ...the position of senior director at the National Security Council . He and Ben Rhodes—the NSC deput... ...Security Council. He and Ben Rhodes—the NSC deputy entered into conversations wit... ...had taken place. When I was at the NSC with President Clinton is when th... ...other agencies working closely with the National Security Council as well. This was always a projec... ...of the leadership, of course, that the National Security Council also provided. This way, we could tr... ...that I was a senior director at the National Security Council in the second Clinton administratio... ...to make sure that the people at the National Security Council who were involved in these things wer... ...simply go back to my experience at the National Security Council in the Clinton years: one of the grea... ...fields right there. So my team at the National Security Council then worked very heavily to try to se... ...In the Chile case, I was at the National Security Council when there was an extraordinar... ...each one of them was a director at the National Security Council . And they were responsible for certai... ...you're from—you are a director at the National Security Council of the United States. So, you need to... Show more... Roberta Jacobson ... Dan Restrepo was on tap to go to the NSC [National Security Council]. He wa... ...Restrepo was on tap to go to the NSC [ National Security Council ]. He was less well known by a lot o... ...the Council of Economic Advisors in the NSC , at Treasury, etc. who were reall... ...sense, Dan Restrepo—when he was at the NSC , we had a group of about five of u... ...issues. It was Dan Restrepo from the NSC , Frank Mora from DOD, myself fro... ...to do. So, Ricardo Zúñiga was at the NSC . He was a good friend and colleague, ... ...myself, one was Ricardo Zúñiga at the NSC , and one was a career lawyer at th... Show more... Jefferey DeLaurentis ...of Inter-American affairs at the National Security Council [NSC], among other positions. At th... ...at the National Security Council [ NSC ], among other positions. At the star... ...director for Western Hemisphere at the National Security Council . Let's put that out there as on... ...had started something, and I was at the NSC at the time, around the pope's visit... 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