Foreign Policy quotes VP and Scowcroft Center Director Barry Pavel on President Obama’s announcement this past May of a $5 billion fund to fight terrorism:
“My guess is the Pentagon welcomed the additional resources, given there is a lot the military would like to do in this arena,” said Atlantic Council Vice President Barry Pavel, who served on the National Security Council staff under both George W. Bush’s and Obama’s administrations.
There is no problem with policy being very White House-driven — oftentimes it’s totally appropriate, Pavel said. “But it shouldn’t be centralized without coordination across the government; then you run into problems.”