OPTIONS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY PRACTITIONERS’ ADVICE FOR THE NEW ADMINISTRATION

[...]the volume is more than a theory-based academic report; it incorporates a healthy dose of the art of the practical. The following sixteen chapters break nicely into the two categories of functional (future conflict, defense policy, defense budget, national security reform, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and cyber policy) and regional (AsiaPacific, NATO/Europe, Russia, Middle East, South Asia, Africa, Latin America, central Asia, and the high north / Arctic). Lamb sees the need for three steps in particular: (1) legislation that allows the president to empower "mission managers" to lead interagency missions, (2) a concerted effort by the president to create collaborative attitudes and behaviors among cabinet officials, and (3) adoption of a new model of an assistant to the president for national security affairs (known as the national security adviser [NSA]). [...]reading Natali's chapter makes one think the United States should just step away from the Israeli-Palestinian peace process until the actors are "committed to making necessary compromises"-another contrarian recommendation (and one with which former president Carter certainly would not concur).