SIS 682-001
U.S. Foreign Policy: Institutions and Processes
Spring 2011
Tuesday 5:30-8:00
Location: Watkins G02
Prof. Jordan Tama
tama@american.edu, 202-885-2332
Office Hrs: Wed 2:00-5:00, SIS 309,
and by appointment
Overview
This course provides a graduate-level introduction to the institutions and processes
involved in making U.S. foreign, defense, intelligence, and homeland security policy.
The course focuses on the institutions, decision-making processes, and politics of U.S.
foreign and national security policy-making. It covers the State, Defense, and Homeland
Security departments, the intelligence community, the White House, interagency
processes, the Congress, and outside participants in the policy process.
Learning Objectives
1) Assess analytical approaches to foreign and national security policy-making;
2) Examine the major institutions and policy processes involved in foreign and
national security policy-making;
3) Simulate the foreign and national security policy process and the documents it
produces, as a quasi-practitioner, either in executive branch or the Congress
Learning Outcomes
1) Evaluated competing approaches to foreign and national security policy-making;
2) Gained in-depth knowledge of the major institutions and policy processes
involved in foreign and national security policy-making;
3) Gained experience simulating the foreign and national security policy process and
the documents it produces;
4) Synthesized course concepts and information
Methods and Skills
The class will include lectures, class discussion, and weekly readings. You will create
and execute a simulation of the foreign policy process, including classroom activity and
individual and joint written products (briefing memoranda, testimony, draft resolutions
and legislation, floor statements, press releases). Each student will write a take-home
final paper, integrating the different learning experiences in the class – readings, lectures
and discussions, and simulation.
Course Requirements and Assignments
Class Participation (25% of grade): You are expected to attend class, and you should
come to each class prepared to discuss the assigned readings. I will evaluate your
participation based on your attendance and the quality of your contributions to class
discussions and debates.
The best contributions to class discussion are ones that demonstrate engagement with the
course material, familiarity with the reading, thoughtfulness, and respect for the opinions
of others. Attentiveness in class is also an important part of participation. It is
unacceptable to use a laptop or other electronic device for an activity other than taking or
referring to class-related notes.
Simulation of the Policy Process (40% of grade): Over the course of the semester, the
class will conduct a simulation of the foreign policy process in both the executive branch
and the Congress. There will be several written products as part of this process, some as
individual products and some as group products. I will post on blackboard separately a
detailed document on the simulation, which you should regularly bring with you to class.
Final Integration Paper/Take Home Exam (35% of grade): You will write a takehome final/paper, due Friday, April 29 at 5 PM. This paper is the most important
individual product for the course. I will provide three questions in the class of April 19.
You should write a short essay in response to two of the three questions. Each answer
should be no more than five double-spaced pages, 12 pt. Times New Roman font.
The essay should integrate the material from the three learning experiences in the course:
the readings, the class lectures and discussions, and the simulation. It should focus on
what you learned about the national security policy process that is relevant to the
question. The key word is “integration” – each essay should pull together all the
elements of the semester’s learning process.
A successful paper/take home will depend heavily on your taking good notes
throughout the semester on the lectures, class discussions, the simulation, and the
readings; this is the raw material which you will use. In the essays, you will need to
document your conclusions carefully, using parenthetical citations or footnotes referring
to specific readings, lectures, and simulation events.
Keeping Current: Keeping up with current developments in U.S. foreign policy should
be part of your preparation for this class. You should become regular consumers of the
New York Times and Washington Post, on-line news sources and blogs such as Politico,
and publications such as Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy.
Blackboard: I will occasionally post articles on blackboard or e-mail to you
announcements related to the course. You are responsible for checking the blackboard
site for the course and your AU e-mail regularly and reading any announcements from
me. Please let me know right away if you are not getting materials through Blackboard.
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Writing: I take writing quality seriously as part of my evaluation of your written work.
You should always edit your work carefully to eliminate grammatical errors and
maximize its clarity.
Late papers: Turning in your work on time is important. I will penalize a late paper by
deducting 1/3 of a grade (e.g. A becomes A-) if it is late by less than 24 hours, 2/3 of a
grade (A becomes B+) if it is late by more than 24 hours but less than 72 hours, a full
grade (A becomes B) if it is late by more than 72 hours but less than one week, and two
full grades (A becomes C) if it is late by more than one week.
Readings
All readings should be available from the AU bookstore, posted on blackboard, and/or
available on the web. If they are not, please let me know immediately. We will use
several books extensively, which can be purchased from the bookstore or ordered from
on-line booksellers:
Amos A. Jordan, William J. Taylor, Jr., Michael J. Meese, Suzanne C. Nielsen, James
Schlesinger, American National Security, 6th Edition, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2009
Donald F. Kettl, System Under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics, 2nd
Edition, Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2007
James M. Lindsay, Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy, Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1994
Mark M. Lowenthal, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, 4th Edition, Washington, DC:
CQ Press, 2009
Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010
Class Sessions
January 11: Introduction and Theoretical Framework
Morton Halperin and Arnold Kanter, “The Bureaucratic Perspective: A Preliminary
Framework,” in Morton Halperin and Arnold Kanter, eds. Readings in American Foreign
Policy: A Bureaucratic Perspective, Boston: Little Brown, 1973, pages 1-42
January 18: The White House, NSC and Interagency Process
Jordan, Taylor, et al., American National Security, Chapter 4 and Chapter 10
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Presidential Policy Directive No.1, “Organization of the National Security Council
System.” Available at http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/ppd/ppd-1.pdf
Charts on NSC organization and staff over time. Available at:
http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/nsc/structure.aspx
National Security Council Memorandum, “The 21st Century Interagency Process,” March
18, 2009. Available at www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/ppd/nsc031909.pdf
Ivo H. Daalder and I. M. Destler, “In the Shadow of the Oval Office: The Next National
Security Adviser,” Foreign Affairs (January/February 2009), pages 114-129
White House, National Security Strategy, May 2010, pages 1-7. Available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/national_security_strategy.pdf
Catherine Dale, Nina M. Serafino, and Pat Towell, Organizing the U.S. Government for
National Security: Overview of the Interagency Reform Debates (Congressional Research
Service, December 2008). Available at www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34455.pdf
Gordon Adams, “Interagency National Security Reform: The Road Ahead,” Testimony
for the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Armed Services
Committee, June 09, 2010
Donald Hafner, “Presidential Leadership and the Foreign Policy Bureaucracy,” in David
Deese, editor, The New Politics of American Foreign Policy (New York: St. Martin's
Press, 1994), pages 36-58
Suggested additional readings:
Alan G. Whittaker, Frederick C. Smith, & Elizabeth McKune, The National Security
Policy Process: The National Security Council and Interagency System, Research Report,
November 15, 2008, Washington, D.C.: Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National
Defense University, November 2008. (This is a periodic report that might be updated
soon.) Available at http://www.ndu.edu/icaf/outreach/publications/nspp/
Project on National Security Reform, Turning Ideas Into Action, Executive Summary,
September 2009. Available at
http://www.pnsr.org/data/files/pnsr_turning_ideas_into_action.pdf
January 25: The White House, NSC and Interagency Process
Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, pages 32-47, 62-73, 79-90, 94-114, 117-345
February 1: Congress
Jordan, Taylor, et al. American National Security, Chapter 5
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Lindsay, Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy, pages 1-75
Read one of the following two readings thoroughly and skim the other:
James M. McCormick, “Decision Making in the Foreign Affairs and Foreign Relations
Committees,” in James M. Lindsay and Randall B. Ripley, editors, Congress Resurgent:
Foreign and Defense Policy on Capitol Hill, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
1993, pp.115-53
Christopher J. Deering, “Decision Making in the Armed Services Committees,” in
Lindsay and Ripley, Congress Resurgent, pp.155-82
February 8: Congress
Lindsay, Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy, pages 76-184
William G. Howell and Jon C. Pevehouse, While Dangers Gather: Congressional Checks
on Presidential War Powers (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), pages 3-49
Suggested additional reading:
Robert M. Hathaway and Jordan Tama, “The U.S. Congress and North Korea during the
Clinton Years: Talk Tough, Carry a Small Stick,” Asian Survey, Volume 44, Number 5
(September/October 2004), pages 711-733
February 15: Simulation Session I - NSC Principals and Congressional Caucuses
February 22: Budgeting
Jordan, Taylor, et al. American National Security, Chapter 9
Gordon Adams and Cindy Williams, Buying National Security: How America Plans and
Pays for Its Global Role and Safety at Home (New York: Routledge, 2009), pages 162220
Gordon Adams, “The Politics of National Security Budgets,” Policy Analysis Brief,
Stanley Foundation, February 2007. Available at
http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/resources.cfm?ID=207
Bipartisan Policy Center Debt Reduction Task Force, Restoring America's Future
(November 2010), pages 98-109. Available at
http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/library/report/restoring-americas-future
Suggested additional readings:
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Robert K. Art, “Congress and the Defense Budget: Enhancing Policy Oversight,”
Political Science Quarterly, Volume 100, Number 2 (1985): pages 227-248
Cindy Williams and Gordon Adams, Strengthening Statecraft and Security: Reforming
U.S. Planning and Resource Allocation, Occasional Paper, Cambridge, MA: MIT
Security Studies Program, June 2008, Chapter 1. Available at
www.stimson.org/images/.../MIT_mongraph_Williams-Adams_final_708.pdf
March 1: The State Department and USAID
U.S. Department of State, “Department Organization,” at
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/dos/436.htm
Col. Rickey L. Rife, “Defense is From Mars; State is From Venus: Improving
Communications and Promoting National Security,” Army War College, 1998.
Gordon Adams, “The Role of Civilian and Military Agencies in the Advancement of
America’s Diplomatic and Development Objectives,” Testimony before the House
Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs,
March 5, 2009.
Robert M. Gates, “Landon Lecture,” Kansas State University, November 26, 2007
Alison Stanger, One Nation under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and
the Future of Foreign Policy (Yale University Press, 2009), pages 109-135
Gordon Adams, “Getting U.S. Foreign Assistance Right,” Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists, online column, May 2, 2008.
State Department, Leading through Civilian Power, Quadrennial Diplomacy and
Development Review, December 2010, Executive Summary
John Norris, “The Ambassadors-As-CEOs Model,” Foreign Policy, December 17, 2010
Possible other articles TBA related to QDDR and/or Wikileaks release of diplomatic
cables
Suggested additional reading:
American Academy of Diplomacy and the Stimson Center, A Foreign Affairs Budget for
the Future: Fixing the Crisis in Diplomatic Readiness, Washington, DC, September
2008. Available at http://www.stimson.org/pub.cfm?ID=686
No class on March 8 -- Spring break
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March 15: The Defense Department
Jordan, Taylor, et al., American National Security, Chapters 8
Dana Priest, The Mission (W.W. Norton & Co., 2003), pages 61-118
Alison Stanger, One Nation under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and
the Future of Foreign Policy (Yale University Press, 2009), pages 84-108
Department of Defense, Quadrennial Defense Review Report, Washington, DC: DOD,
February 1, 2010, Executive Summary. Available at:
http://www.defense.gov/qdr/images/QDR_as_of_12Feb10_1000.pdf
Gordon Adams, “The FY 2011 Defense Budget and the Quadrennial Defense Review,”
Testimony for the Senate Budget Committee, February 23, 2010
Remarks by Robert Gates at the Eisenhower Library, May 8, 2010
Suggested additional readings:
Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel, The QDR in Perspective:
Meeting America’s National Security Needs In the 21st Century, Washington, DC: US
Institute of Peace, July 2010, Introduction and Cumulative List of Findings and
Recommendations. Available at: http://www.usip.org/files/qdr/qdrreport.pdf
National Journal, National Security Experts Blog, Exchange on “U.S. Military Power:
Preeminence at What Price,” August 2-6, 2010. Available at
http://security.nationaljournal.com/2010/08/us-military-powerpreeminence.php#comments
March 22: Simulation Session II - Congressional Hearing
March 29: The Intelligence Community
Jordan, Taylor, et al., American National Security, Chapter 7
Lowenthal, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, Chapters 1, 3-4, 9-10, 13
Suggested additional reading:
“Top Secret America: A Washington Post investigation.” Available at
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/
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April 5: The Department of Homeland Security
Jordan, Taylor, et al., Chapter 6
Kettl, Stressing the System Under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics, All
John Mueller and Mark Stewart, “Hardly Existential: Thinking Rationally about
Terrorism,” Foreign Affairs, April 2, 2010
April 12: Economic Policy Making, Ad Hoc Commissions, and Reorganization
I . M. (Mac) Destler "The Foreign Economic Bureaucracy," Forthcoming in Routledge
Handbook of American Foreign Policy, edited by Steven Hook and Christopher Jones
(Routledge, 2011). The book is not yet published, but Destler’s chapter is available at
http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/files.php/faculty/destler/the_foreign_economic_bureau
cracy.docx
Stephen D. Cohen, Robert A. Blecker and Peter D. Whitney, Fundamentals of U.S.
Foreign Trade Policy, Second Edition, (Westview Press, 2003), pages 127-149
Jordan Tama, Terrorism and National Security Reform: How Commissions Can Drive
Change During Crises (Cambridge University Press, 2011), Chapter 1, Chapter 6
Lowenthal, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, Chapter 14
April 19: Simulation Session III - Congressional Debate and Vote; Administration
Response
Academic Integrity
Standards of academic conduct are set forth in the University's Academic Integrity Code.
By registering, you have acknowledged your awareness of the Academic Integrity Code,
and you are obliged to become familiar with your rights and responsibilities as defined by
it. Violations of the Academic Integrity Code will not be treated lightly, and disciplinary
actions will be taken should such violations occur. Please see me if your have any
questions about the academic violations described in the Academic Integrity Code in
general or as they relate to particular requirements for this course.
Support Services and Disabilities
If you experience difficulty in this course for any reason, please don’t hesitate to consult
with me. In addition to the resources of SIS, a wide range of services is available to
support you in your efforts to meet the course requirements.
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Academic Support Center (x3360, MGC 243) offers study skills workshops, individual
instruction, tutor referrals, and services for students with learning disabilities. Writing
support is available in the ASC Writing Lab or in the Writing Center, Battelle 228.
Counseling Center (x3500, MGC 214) offers counseling and consultations regarding
personal concerns, self-help information, and connections to off-campus mental health
resources.
Disability Support Services (x3315, MGC 206) offers technical and practical support
and assistance with accommodations for students with physical, medical, or
psychological disabilities.
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please notify me in a timely
manner with a letter from the Academic Support Center or Disability Support Services so
that we can make arrangements to address your needs.
Emergency Preparedness
In the event of a declared pandemic (influenza or other communicable disease),
American University will implement a plan for meeting the needs of all members of the
university community. Should the university be required to close for a period of time, we
are committed to ensuring that all aspects of our educational programs will be delivered
to our students. These may include altering and extending the duration of the traditional
term schedule to complete essential instruction in the traditional format and/or use of
distance instructional methods. Specific strategies will vary from class to class,
depending on the format of the course and the timing of the emergency. Faculty will
communicate class-specific information to students via AU e-mail and Blackboard, while
students must inform their faculty immediately of any absence due to illness. Students are
responsible for checking their AU e-mail regularly and keeping themselves informed of
emergencies. In the event of a declared pandemic or other emergency, students should
refer to the AU Web site (www.prepared.american.edu) and the AU information line at
(202) 885-1100 for general university-wide information, as well as contact their faculty
and/or respective dean’s office for course and school/ college-specific information.
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