Presidential commissions & national security : the politics of damage control / Kenneth Kitts.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kitts, Kenneth, 1964- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Executive advisory bodies--United States--Case studies.

Executive advisory bodies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 194 pages)

Place of Publication:

Boulder, Colorado ; London : Lynne Rienner Publishers, [2006]

Summary:

Kenneth Kitts offers entry into the highly political, behind-closed-doors world of blue-ribbon investigative commissions convened in the aftermath of national security crises. Ranging from Pearl Harbor to the September 11 terrorist attacks, Kitts takes the reader into the "backroom" to watch as presidents, their advisers, and commission members confront an armory of pressures. With rich detail and accounts of political intrigue, he reveals just how and when presidents reach for the blue-ribbon option to try to defuse crises, deflect criticism, and maintain control of national security policy and how presidential expectations are sometimes unmet, as commissions issue damning reports with unforeseen and explosive consequences.

Contents:

Presidents and the blue ribbon option

The politics of infamy : the Roberts Commission and Pearl Harbor

The politics of spying : the Rockefeller Commission and the CIA

The politics of Armaggedon : the Scowcroft Commission and the MX missile

The politics of scandal : the Tower Commission and Iran-Contra

The politics of terror : Tom Kean and the 9/11 Commission

Conclusion : the politics of damage control.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-62637-476-7

OCLC:

1334343581