The National Security Council (NSC) has played a central role in how presidents approach national security since it was created in 1947. What I find most interesting is how each administration has leaned on the NSC differently depending on the challenges of their time. At its core, the council brings together the president, vice president, secretaries of state and defense, and other senior advisors so that military, intelligence, diplomatic, and economic perspectives can be combined into a single strategy (Rothkopf 2005, 11–12). While the NSC has always been about coordination, how presidents have used it shows a balance between continuity and change.
Looking back, presidents often used the NSC in ways that reflected their leadership styles. Truman helped create the NSC during the early Cold War to ensure the U.S. could respond to long-term threats with a permanent structure. Nixon, especially with Henry Kissinger as national security advisor, centralized decision-making in the NSC and pushed the State Department aside (Zegart 2011, 87–89). After 9/11, George W. Bush relied heavily on the NSC to coordinate counterterrorism efforts and lead the Global War on Terror. More recently, President Obama expanded the NSC staff so the White House could better handle various issues like terrorism, cybersecurity, and climate change.
When comparing the Trump and Biden administrations, it is easy to see continuity and change. A clear example of continuity is how both presidents used the NSC to deal with great-power competition. Trump’s 2017 National Security Strategy focused on countering China and Russia, showing how the NSC shaped long-term strategy (White House 2017). Biden has kept that focus, primarily through the NSC’s coordination of U.S. and allied responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 (Council on Foreign Relations 2022). This shows that no matter the administration, the NSC remains where major foreign policy crises are managed.
At the same time, Biden has made changes that reflect new security priorities. Trump sometimes narrowed the NSC’s scope, even reducing the office that handled global health security before the pandemic (Congressional Research Service 2020). Biden has moved in the opposite direction by expanding the agenda. For example, Biden’s 2022 National Security Strategy explicitly elevated climate change as a core security issue, highlighting its role in shaping U.S. policy toward China, the Arctic, and global stability (Axios 2022). Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also described climate change as a direct national security threat, integrating environmental risk into Pentagon planning (Brookings 2021). Together, these steps show a significant shift in how the NSC frames twenty-first-century security challenges.
Overall, the NSC shows how American national security policy is stable and flexible. The council always serves as the president’s main advisory body, but each administration reshapes it to match the threats of the moment. Comparing Trump and Biden makes it clear that while both emphasized competition with significant powers, Biden has broadened the NSC’s scope to include issues like climate and health security that reflect a changing world.
Bibliography
Axios. “Biden’s National Security Strategy Focuses on Climate Change.” October 13, 2022. Accessed September 7, 2025. https://www.axios.com/2022/10/13/climate-change-biden-national-security-strategy
Brookings Institution. “What Climate Change Will Mean for U.S. Security and Geopolitics.” April 26, 2021. Accessed September 7, 2025. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-climate-change-will-mean-for-us-security-and-geopolitics/
Congressional Research Service. The National Security Council: Background and Issues for Congress. March 19, 2020. Accessed September 7, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R44828
Congress.gov. "The National Security Council: Background and Issues for Congress." September 7, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R44828
Institute for the Study of War. “War in Ukraine: Global Conflict Tracker.” Accessed September 7, 2025. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ukraine
Rothkopf, David. Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power. New York: PublicAffairs, 2005. https://books.google.com/books?id=1N1DleUGufwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
White House. National Security Strategy of the United States of America. December 2017. Accessed September 7, 2025. https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf
Zegart, Amy B. Eyes on Spies: Congress and the United States Intelligence Community. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 2011. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bellevue-ebooks/reader.action?docID=3301824&c=RVBVQg&ppg=4