An Analysis Of The Causes Of Role Conflict Of The National Security Advisor(1953-2005)

National Security Advisor(NSA)is established by statute in 1947 to set up an inter-departmental institution to advise the president in the integration of domestic,foreign,and military as well as economic policies concerning the national security to coordinate the military and other departments in the government.Since its founding,the NSA has constantly been the focus of the policy making in national security and foreign policy.This thesis analyses the factors contributing to the role conflict of the NSA,based on historical material and the role theory,including the oral history,interviews,Congress reports and other books.Starting from the mechanism behind the background and through comparison between stranger society and acquaintance society,this thesis then finds that the role conflict also sources from the organization design which clashes both at the level of organizational structure and that of organizational function.Moreover,this thesis identifies the role conflict between the role desired by the reality and the person who undertakes it.Finally,this paper concludes that the role conflict of the NSA derives from the interplay between three factors: tension between the law-regulated structure and the president-centered structure,between the president and the bureaucracy,and between the role and the person in practice.Therefore,its role conflict derives from the president's struggle for power and varies regarding intensity under the specific historical condition.While the president clearly holds final authority in the executive branch,influences of NSA have varied significantly from one administration to another,ranging from elaborately structured and formal systems to the loosely-knitted teams of experts.However,the NSA is still a consequential person in the interagency decision-making institution,and this analysis will be meaningful both practically and theoretically.