listened to. they ve been marginalized. but third, they need to check politics at the situation room door. having mr. bannon in the situation room at the table as a co-equal to the secretary of defense, secretary of state, that s wrong place to go. and on top of that, there are reports that he s been running a parallel process, divorce from the national security council on national security issues. that is a recipe for conflict, for disfunction. i hope that part of general mcmasters conditions for taking the job is that he s running the show and mr. bannon and the ideologues are not part of the process. donald trump sort of mocked some generals, saying he knew more than a lot of generals did or most of the generals did, he talked about how they were reduced to rubble. i m not sure which generals he was talking to. but he is certainly has, as president, decided to surround himself with key generals.
he s not afraid to confront orthodoxy, a first-rate pick. he s written a book critical of u.s. generals for not taking a tougher line with political bosses during the vietnam war. i m wondering how that may play out. i think he s going to have three challenges as he assumes this job. one is to make sure all the other agencies are really around the table. the state department, joint chiefs, energy, they haven t been there to date. second, he needs to make sure that the national security council staff is looped in and listened to. they ve been marginalized. but third, they need to check politics at the situation room door. having mr. bannon in the situation room at the table as a co-equal to the secretary of defense, secretary of state, that s wrong place to go. and on top of that, there are reports that he s been running a parallel process, divorce from
have in government. this is really the hub of our national security and our foreign policy. and leaving aside this incident, there are also significant reports of nsc staff at the white house. professionals who are dedicating their lives and careers to this. what do you think this incident does to the nsc staff? there are lots of reports suggesting that the staff was already demoralized because there was no communication. it wasn t being listened to. it wasn t being looped in. i hope very much the next national security adviser takes a different approach. and in particular, most of the staff on the nsc, they are career professionals who are sent over to the white house from other agencies. they check their politics at the situation room door. and so bringing politics into it, is a bad thing. one of the things the next national security adviser should insist on is that he or she does not report to and through mr. bannon. it s totally inappropriate to have a political figure in the
for this raid, the signature event of the last several years. no doubt about it. and a remarkable way. is this one of the highlights of your journalistic career? well, considering that there was there came a time when we knocked on the situation room door and you heard the electronic lock open, and as a civilian, to walk inside there, and then say to our cameras, come on in. 50 years it s been there. and no one has been able i give a walking tour of the inside of the place. to say nothing of having free reign of the white house hallways, being around any president is for those of us in this line of work extraordinary. so, yes. mrs. williams little boy brian gets to do some amazing exploits on the job. it was amazing you were given that access. one only hopes that your shirt was tucked in. always. was it? i was raised right, joe. i have a feeling that your
defense, how is the government running? it s a great question. here s the thing, the national security council and all of its processes are the center of gravity for making foreign policy and when it s out of whack the policy will be out of whack. it starts with the personnel and the process. and there are four thing this is administration hasn t done and needs to do if it wants to get this back on track. they need a national security adviser and somebody who can bring people together who s an honest broker. they need to get all of the agencies in the room, state department, department, joint chiefs, energy, you name it, everyone has to be at the table. third, they need to listen and loop in the national security council staff. these are career professionals who know exactly what they re doing who have been marginalized to date and finally they have to check politics at the situation room door. this is one of the most troubling aspects. mr. bannon seems to be running a parallel proce