The advent of the interagency process coincided with the passage of the National Security Act of 1947. This landmark legislation dramatically altered the landscape of the federal government at the dawn of the Cold War. While various presidential administrations have adapted their foreign policy methods to suit their needs, this act established the basic framework of coordination necessary for America's position as a global superpower. Why have the National Security Advisor and NSC staff become so important in foreign policymaking? politics? The 65-year evolution of the National Security Advisor (NSA) and National Security Council (NSC) staff into an influential shaper of U.S. foreign policy reflects acceptance by successive iterations of the national leadership that America's place in the world requires a small but assertive body capable of producing viable options for addressing a complex world. While its importance has ebbed and flowed from one administration to another (and even within individual mandates), the overall assessment remains that NSC personnel, and to a greater extent the NSA, represent an “attractive tool ” for presidential politics and politics. maneuvers. Their importance is also rooted in historical reasons. The sharp increase in American foreign influence, and therefore the need for a cohesive foreign policy, materialized just before the Second World War and prompted the powerful Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, to support interdepartmental coordination between the agencies of State, War and the Navy. The subsequent global (and total) victories of the Allies in World War II heavily influenced the main architects of foreign policy, demonstrating that military power and international obligations had a large part... addressing an evolving terrorist threat actually ends up masking the far more important government responsibility for overall national preparedness, not just protection from terrorism. The billions of dollars and incredible amount of effort expended to create the growing defense and national security enterprise have certainly helped fill some existing gaps, but the rampant inefficiency continues to be a point of contention today. Overly broad notions of counterterrorism and national defense mean that “any spending can be justified,” as demonstrated by decades-long increases in DHS budgets and numerous instances of wasteful spending. Diving headfirst into the world of national security was a uniquely American feat. No other nation possessed the fiscal wherewithal to implement such drastic measures on so many levels and in such a short space of time.