POL 472 National Security Processes
This course will examine the roles of the President, the National Security Council, the Congress, and the Intelligence Community in the formulation and implementation of national security policy. Special attention will be given to the impact of presidential organization of advisory and decision-making processes in shaping national security policy. Case studies will include the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Iraq Wars of 1991 and 2003, the problems in intelligence gathering and interpretation in the pre-Pearl Harbor (1941), pre-9/11 (2001) and pre-Iraq intervention (2003) cases. Other case studies will include the battle of Midway, the Bay of Pigs, the major decisions on intervention and escalation in Vietnam during Lyndon Johnson's presidency, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.