The most solemn obligation of any president is to safeguard the nation's security--but the president cannot do this alone. He needs help. In the past half century, presidents have relied on their national security advisers to provide that help. Who are these people, the powerful officials who operate out of public view and accountable only to the presidents who put them there? Some remain obscure even to this day, but quite a number have names that resonate far beyond the foreign policy élite: McGeorge Bundy, Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice. Daalder and Destler provide the first inside look at how presidents from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush have used their national security advisers to manage America's engagements with the outside world.--From publisher description.