National Security Advisor (United States)

Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
Incumbent Thomas E. Donilon
Department	Executive Office of the President
Appointer	The President of the United States
Formation	1953
First holder	Robert Cutler
Website	The White House

The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor (abbreviated NSA, or sometimes APNSA or ANSA to avoid confusion with the abbreviation of the National Security Agency), is a senior official in the Executive Office of the President who serves as the chief advisor, stationed in the White House, to the President of the United States on national security issues. This person also participates in the meetings of the National Security Council. The National Security Advisor's office is located in the West Wing of the White House. He or she is supported by the National Security Council staff that produces research, briefings, and intelligence for the APNSA to review and present either to the National Security Council or directly to the President.

The current Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs is Thomas E. Donilon.

Role

The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs is appointed by the President without confirmation by the United States Senate. However, the APNSA is a staff position in the Executive Office of the President and does not have line authority over either the Department of State or the Department of Defense, but is able, as a consequence thereof, to offer advice to the President - unlike the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense who are Senate-confirmed officials with line authority over their departments - independently of the vested interests of the large bureaucracies and clientele of those departments. The influence and role of the National Security Advisor varies from administration to administration and depends heavily on the qualities of the person appointed to the position.

In times of crisis, the National Security Advisor operates from the White House Situation Room, updating the President on the latest events of a crisis.

List of National Security Advisors

#	Picture	Name	Term of Office		President(s) served under
			Start	End
1		Robert Cutler	March 23, 1953	April 2, 1955	Dwight D. Eisenhower
2		Dillon Anderson	April 2, 1955	September 1, 1956
3		William H. Jackson	September 1, 1956	January 7, 1957
4		Robert Cutler	January 7, 1957	June 24, 1958
5		Gordon Gray	June 24, 1958	January 13, 1961
6		McGeorge Bundy	January 20, 1961	February 28, 1966	John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson
7		Walt W. Rostow	April 1, 1966	January 20, 1969	Lyndon B. Johnson
8		Henry Kissinger	January 20, 1969	November 3, 1975	Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford
9		Lt Gen Brent Scowcroft	November 3, 1975	January 20, 1977	Gerald Ford
10		Zbigniew Brzezinski	January 20, 1977	January 21, 1981	Jimmy Carter
11		Richard V. Allen	January 21, 1981	January 4, 1982	Ronald Reagan
12		William P. Clark	January 4, 1982	October 17, 1983
13		LtCol Robert C. McFarlane	October 17, 1983	December 4, 1985
14		VADM John M. Poindexter	December 4, 1985	November 25, 1986
15		Frank C. Carlucci	December 2, 1986	November 23, 1987
16		LTG Colin L. Powell	November 23, 1987	January 20, 1989
17		Lt Gen Brent Scowcroft	January 20, 1989	January 20, 1993	George H. W. Bush
18		W. Anthony Lake	January 20, 1993	March 14, 1997	Bill Clinton
19		Samuel R. Berger	March 14, 1997	January 20, 2001
20		Condoleezza Rice	January 22, 2001	January 25, 2005	George W. Bush
21		Stephen Hadley	January 26, 2005	January 20, 2009
22		Gen James L. Jones (Ret.)	January 20, 2009	October 8, 2010	Barack Obama
23		Tom Donilon	October 8, 2010	Incumbent

References

Notes

External links

• www.whitehouse.gov/nsc