Nested inside the executive branch, the NSC offers a forum for members of the departments and agencies involved in protecting U.S. national security—such as the Departments of State, Defense, and Treasury—to convene and recommend policy options to the president. The NSC folds foreign and military policymaking into an interagency process, which allows the president to incorporate various departments’ perspectives into decision-making and ensures government departments share information and implement policies in a coordinated manner.

Crucially, the NSC is primarily an advisory body. The president can delegate some decisions on matters to the Council when members find consensus, but final decisions on the most important national security issues rest with the occupant of the Oval Office. Learn more about the NSC’s history and structure by visiting our Foreign Policy unit here: https://on.cfr.org/3TaIolv

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