"The president has tolerated the Pentagon bypassing the NSC system," said Robert Hunter, a member of President Carter's NSC and a former ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization who is with Rand Corp. in its Washington office. "Many see the system as broken-down."
Insiders say letting the State and Defense departments battle it out is a dangerous long-term strategy. "I don't think [the president] sees the downsides," groused another former NSC official.
It pits middle- and lower-level bureaucracies against each other in a way that can divert attention away from national security. Foreign governments have complained it is sometimes hard to discern the administration's policy because the State Department and the Pentagon seem to pursue different goals.
Rice declined to comment for this article. The national security advisor shouldn't just mediate disputes, she should knock heads together, many say.
"I'd argue that it's Condi's job to sort it out," said a Clinton-era NSC official. "My view is that the national security advisor should adjudicate policy and bring a unified argument to the president. The president shouldn't be wasting his time resolving bureaucratic differences."
But others say that doesn't have to be her job.
"It depends on how a president and his national security advisor want to organize it," said another former NSC official. "It's not necessarily a failure of the national security advisor if the secretary of Defense and the secretary of State are duking it out."
The advisor's role in the current administration may have been further diminished by the fact that Vice President Dick Cheney has a parallel national security staff that weighs in from time to time. But two NSC aides insisted Cheney's staff doesn't improperly interfere.
Others speculate that Rice refrains from intervening between the two powerful department secretaries because she is anxious not to alienate Rumsfeld; the rumor mill suggests that Powell may step down in the event Bush wins a second term, and Rice is said to want the job.
Sean McCormack, the NSC spokesman, said regardless of what the rest of Washington might think, Rice doesn't see herself as an enforcer. Her job is to provide the president with the information he needs to make decisions.
"Our primary function, as Condi has identified it, is to staff the president and coordinate among the agencies," McCormack said.
