Overview

In this provocative and thoughtful book, Amy Zegart challenges the conventional belief that national security agencies work reasonably well to serve the national interest as they were designed to do. Using a new institutionalist approach, Zegart asks what forces shaped the initial design of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council in ways that meant they were handicapped from birth. Ironically, she finds that much of the blame can be ascribed to cherished features of American democracy frequent elections, the separation of powers, majority rule, political compromise all of which constrain presidential power and give Congress little incentive to create an effective foreign policy system. At the same time, bureaucrats in rival departments had the expertise, the staying power, and the incentives to sabotage the creation of effective competitors, and this is exactly what they did.

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9780804735049

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Reviews

'Zegart's study deftly balances organization theory and the realities of American politics to provide new insights into the origins and evolution of the CIA, JCS, and NSC. Based on voluminous historical materials, this book is a must-read for all serious students of the American foreign policy process and the policy it produces.'General Brent Scowcroft

Based on voluminous historical materials, this book is a must-read for all serious students of the American foreign policy process. --General Brent Scowcroft, Former National Security Advisor Zegart's incisive and revealing new book ... convincingly argues that U.S. interests have been compromised ... by the institutional design of national security agencies. --Washington Monthly Fifty years afer the creation fo the national securty decision making mechanisms, Zegart's anaysis is both historically timely and intellectually insightful. Her assessments should be seriously considered in any systematic efforts to update and reform the existing arrangements. --Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic & International Studies

Based on voluminous historical materials, this book is a must-read for all serious students of the American foreign policy process. - General Brent Scowcroft, Former National Security Advisor Zegart's incisive and revealing new book ... convincingly argues that U.S. interests have been compromised ... by the institutional design of national security agencies. - Washington Monthly Fifty years afer the creation fo the national securty decision making mechanisms, Zegart's anaysis is both historically timely and intellectually insightful. Her assessments should be seriously considered in any systematic efforts to update and reform the existing arrangements. - Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic & International Studies

Fifty years afer the creation fo the national securty decision making mechanisms, Zegart's anaysis is both historically timely and intellectually insightful. Her assessments should be seriously considered in any systematic efforts to update and reform the existing arrangements. -- Zbigniew Brzezinski Based on voluminous historical materials, this book is a must-read for all serious students of the American foreign policy process. -- General Brent Scowcroft Former National Security Advisor Zegart's incisive and revealing new book ... convincingly argues that U.S. interests have been compromised ... by the institutional design of national security agencies. -- Washington Monthly

Author Information

Amy B. Zegart is Assistant Professor of Policy Studies in the School of Public Policy and Social Research at the University of California, Los Angeles.

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