The Contemporary Presidency The Administrator as Outsider: James Jones as National Security Advisor

Abstract

This article examines the role of former National Security Advisor (NSA) James Jones in the Obama administration. I argue that Jones served as an administrator and failed to achieve a close advisory relationship with the president and ceded many aspects of coordination and management of the foreign policy‐making process to Deputy NSA Tom Donilon and other actors within the administration. The article then concludes with a discussion of the continued importance and influence of presidential management style on the role, power, and influence of the NSA in U.S. foreign policy making.