Among his sources of information about the outside world are 1) the Pentagon; 2) the State Department; and 3) the CIA.

Often, presidential advisers present conflicting information or offer different advice. Members of Congress can also try to pressure the White House into a particular course of action. And foreign governments can likewise attempt to exert their influence. So the president’s most important cask in the foreign policy-making process is deciding whom to believe. The wrong choicc can be costly.

Congress and the President

Subject to the advice and consent role of the U.S. Senate, the President of the United States negotiates treaties with foreign nations, but treaties enter into force only if ratified by two-thirds of the Senate. The President is also Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces，and as such has broad authority over the armed forces once they are deployed，however only Congress has authority to declare war, and the dviiian and military budget is written by the Congress. The United States Secretary of State is the foreign minister of the United States and is the primary conductor of state-tostate diplomacy. Both the Secretary of State and ambassadors are appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Congress also has power to regulate commerce with foreign nations.

Once a president decides on a policy, he may be able to carry it out without congressional approval if he has a dear constitutional authority. When his constitutional authority is not certain and constitutional q>proval appears unlikely, he can employ one of several ways to sidestep the Consdtudon:

1) To wage “undeclared war”, by which, the president, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has the ri^it Co commit American troops in emergency situations. During the Vietnam War, constitutional opponents of that conflict passed the War Powers Resolution to limit the president * s ability to wage undeclared wars.

2) To ask Congress for the funds or authority to carry out a program. Legislators，sources on foreign affairs are limited, so they are forced to rely heavily on the executive branch for infonnadon.

3) To use his infonnadon advantage to swing votes. There is no congressional equivalent of the National Security Council to construct a coherent approach to foreign policy. As a result, the general tendency is for Congress to agree to the president’s foreign policy programs.

Policy Implementation

A president may decide on a course of action, and Congress may authorize must be carried out. The question of who should carry out a particular policy answer. Althou^i the basic functions of each department and agency are spelt out. During the Cuban missile crisis, for example, there were disputes between the concerning who should fly intelligence-gathering missions over Cuba.

it, but the policy sdll is not always easy to at times they overlap. CIA and the military

American Defense Spending

The late 1990s defense budget is approximately $260 billion per year. The number can be seen as high or low, depending on one’s perspective.

1) It looks hi^i compared to the $53 billion in the federal budget for education, training, employment, and social services; or compared to Russia at $82billionv or China at $32billion, or the rest of the world, which combined spends only about $2 total for every $1 in the U.S. Defense budget.

2) It looks low as a percentage of the federal budget, now about 15%, compared to 28% in the late 1980s; or as a percentage of U.S. GDP, about 3%, compared to 6.2% in the late 1980s.

War Powers Resolution (WPR)

Under this resolution, a president must “consult” with Congress in “every possible instance” before involving U.S. troops in hostile countries. In addition, the president is required to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing troops to foreign intervention, and he is prohibited from keeping troops there for more than 60 days without congressional approval (alchou^i he may take up to an additional 30 days to remove troops “safely”).

This act raises consdtudonal questions. A commander^in-chief clearly can order U.S. forces to go anywhere. No president can allow Congress to usurp this presidential authority. Thus, since the passage of WPR, presidents have continued to undertake military actions. Some examples:

President Jimmy Carter ordered U.S. military forces to attempt a rescue of American embassy personnel held hostage by Iran in 1980.

In 1983，U.S. troops invaded the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada in the wake of a procommunist coup there.

President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989 and in sending U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia in August 1990，following Saddam Hussein *s invasion of Kuwait. President Clinton ordered U.S. troops into Bosnia as part of a NATO “peace-keeping” operation in 1995.

The National Security Strategy

The National Security Strategy of the United States of America is a document prepared periodically by the executive branch of the government of the United States for Congress which outlines the major national security concerns of the United States and how the administration plans to deal with them. The legal foundation for the document is spelled out in the Goldwatcr-Nichok Act (1). The document is purposely general in content (contrast with the National Military Strategy) and its implementation relies on elaborating guidance provided in supporting documents (including the NMS).