The LCWINS Tracker
Overview
The LCWINS Tracker is an analytical tool that annually tracks the composition of select senior national security and foreign policy positions in the federal government’s executive branch.
It examines the leadership roles in defense, diplomacy, and intelligence that are positioned to regularly participate in high-level policy deliberations and operational decision-making that directly affect U.S. national security. This Tracker focuses on these positions because of their institutional influence and policy impact.
This Tracker is descriptive in nature and does not assess the qualifications, performance, or selection decisions associated with any individual nomination or appointment. All individuals serving in these roles are presumed to meet the applicable statutory and institutional requirements of their positions.
Methodology
The LCWINS Tracker is built upon a list of senior leadership positions across the federal executive branch. We define “senior leadership” as positions with a hierarchical rank of Deputy Assistant Secretary and above, as well as equivalent roles with comparable levels of authority and responsibility. Although U.S. ambassadorships are essential to the execution of American foreign policy, they are not included in this analysis. The Tracker focuses instead on roles that are more consistently engaged in policy formulation, interagency coordination, and internal decision-making processes within the executive branch.
The specific positions included fall within nine hierarchical groups:
- Secretary, Agency Head
- Deputy Secretary
- Under Secretary
- Deputy Under Secretary
- Assistant Secretary
- Deputy and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
- Envoy, Representative, Coordinator
- Chief of Staff
- Director, Senior Director
- Other (e.g., Deputy Inspector General, Chief Operating Officer, etc.)
We define broad areas of national security responsibility, the use and combination of which may vary between years:
- Defense & Security – the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and military department leadership.
- Diplomacy – The Department of State, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), and the Peace Corps.
- The Intelligence Community – The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA), National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
- The National Security Council – The National Security Council (NSC) Staff at the White House.
- Finance & Banking – The Departments of Commerce and Treasury, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Export-Import Bank, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and U.S. representatives to international development banks. (Note, the 2025 LCWINS Tracker does not include this as a separate area. Rather, it includes these roles in the most relevant area of substantive responsibility.)
- Other – Positions with national security impact at international development banks; the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, and Treasury; and the Offices of the National Cyber Director, Management and Budget, Science and Technology Policy, and the U.S. Trade Representative.