Tomorrow, the @JoeBiden Administration will likely release a memo that sets the ground rules for national security decision-making. /1

This memo will clarify who sits in the key decision making bodies – the National Security Council (NSC), the Principals Committee (PC), the Deputies Committee (DC), and the subsidiary interagency bodies. /2

For convenience, here is the Obama Administration memo ( https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/ppd/ppd-1.pdf) and the Clinton Administration ( https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/pdd/pdd-2.pdf). Small hints about the process may be embedded in the #BidenAdministration’s document. /3

In this document, the US Permanent Representative to the United States will be restored to the NSC and the PC (having been downgraded when @AmbNikkiHaley left #USUN). And, the head of the shuttered USUN/W office – the Deputy to @USUN Ambassador – will be restored to the DC. /4

Interestingly, in Obama's PPD-1, the Deputy Secretary of State was to be “invited to attend every meeting of the NSC/PC.” Curious to see if the Deputy Secretary of State gets the same treatment in the Biden Administration. /5

Democratic and Republican almost always change the nomenclature to signal philosophical differences in the way these bodies should function. Below the DC, Democratic presidents tend to call their subsidiary bodies “Interagency Working Group” or “Interagency Policy Committees." /6

In contrast, Republican presidents tend to call them “Policy Coordination Committees” (PCCs) – in my experience, this was meant to signal that these bodies are not developing policy, merely implementing the policy set from above. /7

Per Trump's NSPM-2 ( https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspm/nspm-2.pdf): “As the main ... fora for ... coordination of #natsec policies, the PCCs shall provide policy analysis for consideration by the more senior committees of the #natsec system and ensure timely responses to the President's decisions.” /8

Of course, Trump's NSPM-2 caught most #natsec observers off guard when it put (just-now-pardoned) Steve Bannon on the PC and not making the #DNI and the Chairman of @theJointStaff automatic members of the PC. /9 https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/29/512295108/with-national-security-council-shakeup-steve-bannon-gets-a-seat-at-the-table

Three months, both peculiarities were fixed. (See https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspm/nspm-4.pdf) /10

Close observers should be on the look-out for signals about rank, attendance, and scope in the Biden memo. For example, according to @PresElectBiden's announcement, John Kerry will join the NSC and PC - that will be recorded in the memo somewhere. /11 https://buildbackbetter.gov/press-releases/president-elect-biden-announces-key-members-of-foreign-policy-and-national-security-team/

In the Obama Administration, the US Ambassador to the UN participated in nearly all PC’s; in the Clinton Administration, the scope was not constrained in PDD-2, but I am told that the ambassador received PC invitations based on whether UN issues would be directly implicated. /12

So, this is really just a bunch of words to say lots of tea-reading for #natsec geeks to be had Wednesday (hopefully)… /end