Organizing for foreign policy crises

U.S. presidents often assemble ad hoc groups of advisers to help them make decisions during foreign policy crises. How presidents use these groups and how the groups are structured varies. In this landmark study encompassing five presidential administrations, Patrick Haney examines how these crisis decision groups were structured and how they performed the tasks of providing information, advice, and analysis to the president.

Haney employs case studies to examine the different ways presidents from Truman through Bush used crisis decision-making groups to help manage foreign policy crisis.