Civilian National Security Infrastructure - White House Staff

The office of the White House consists of personal and political assistants to the president, who serve at his request to facilitate his decisions. The White House staff has seen tremendous growth in the last several decades. The administration of President Herbert Hoover (1929–33) had three secretaries, a military and a naval aide, and twenty clerks in the office. In 1997 the White House office of President Bill Clinton had a permanent staff of more than four hundred people.

Growth has not been the only trend evident in the White House staff's structure over the years. Another has been the evolving and expanding role of the president's national security assistant, who heads the NSC staff. Since the early days of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration (1953–61), the post of national security assistant (then called special assistant to the president for national security affairs) has become increasingly important. In each administration, the assistant's personal relationship with the president, and the president's wishes as to how the assistant should function, have modified the role. The national security assistant's role has also evolved as the NSC staff, which the assistant heads, has changed.