Defense, United States Trump’s National Security Council Is Replicating Reagan’s Chaos

The Time magazine cover said it all. Above a somber portrait of U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s national security advisor, William “The Judge” Clark, a bold-faced headline proclaimed: “The Big Stick Approach.” The message was clear: The White House was taking charge of a more forceful foreign policy. Yet just two months later, in October 1983, that cover boy was out of the job, a casualty of a breakdown on the National Security Council over the United States’ role in the Middle East.

This mostly forgotten history should serve as a warning to President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton—whose push to use the big stick effectively against Iran, North Korea, and other countries has led to speculation over his job security.

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