Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists got his hands on a new National Security Council organizational chart (pdf), which establishes “five deputy National Security Advisers to focus on the president’s priorities” for the second term. Those priorities:
- Winning the war on terror
- Succeeding in Iraq and Afghanistan
- Advancing the President’s freedom agenda, particularly in the Middle East
- Advancing the President’s prosperity agenda; and
- Explaining the President’s strategy at home and abroad.
Nothing too shocking, I suppose—though I’d like to know what this “prosperity agenda” is, exactly—but there seems to be at least one notable and rather scary omission. Can’t find it? Just hark back to the first presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry:
LEHRER: If you are elected president, what will you take to that office thinking is the single most serious threat to the national security to the United States?
KERRY: Nuclear proliferation…
BUSH: …first of all, I agree with my opponent that the biggest threat facing this country is weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terrorist network.
Right. So, um, any chance we might get a deputy National Security Adviser to work on nuclear proliferation?
