WASHINGTON – In the wake of President Trump’s decision to appoint John Bolton as his national security adviser and Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, a consistent criticism has emerged: Trump will no longer have any “adult” supervision in the national security decision-making process or any Cabinet-level “checks” on his own worst instincts.
This view is not only insulting, it is fundamentally anti-democratic. The Constitution places many checks on a president’s power, including Congress, an independent judiciary and a free press. It’s not the job of Cabinet officials to be a “check” on the president. Their job is to give the president options so he can make decisions – not restrict choices to constrain him.
In this Feb. 24, 2017, file photo, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md. President Donald is replacing National security adviser H.R. McMaster with Bolton. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo listens to a question during an event on intelligence issues at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., in January.One of the reasons Trump is reshuffling his national security team is because he has reportedly been deeply frustrated with the lack of options presented to him. In April, he reluctantly recertified the Iran nuclear deal but told his national security advisers that he didn’t want to recertify again – and instructed them to provide a range of options before the next deadline in October. They didn’t do it. That is unacceptable. According to The Weekly Standard, Trump was so angry that no one presented a decertification option that he put Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on speakerphone during an Oval Office meeting to make the case – providing advice that Trump soon followed.
More recently, The New York Times reported that Trump has grown frustrated with the Pentagon’s failure to provide him with military options for North Korea. According to the Times, Pentagon officials are “worried that the White House is moving too hastily toward military action on the Korean Peninsula that could escalate catastrophically. Giving the president too many options, the officials said, could increase the odds that he will act.” Sorry, that’s not how it works in our democracy. We have civilian control of the military, and the president is commander in chief. If he wants military options, it is the Pentagon’s job to deliver them.
Bolton is determined to fix these problems. Cabinet officers are supposed to give the president options (including some they may disagree with), provide their best advice, and then salute and carry out his orders. Bolton is determined to make that happen. Axios reported that he plans to be an “honest broker” who will make sure that all sides are heard when national security decisions are discussed. But he will also be an “enforcer” who makes sure that Cabinet officials carry out the president’s orders.