Special to WorldTribune.com

Bill Gertz, Inside the Ring, Washington Times

National security officials say Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John F. Kerry are frustrated by the White House’s tight rein on foreign and defense policies.

The officials said a “gang of five” in the White House has been exercising near-total control over those policies, cutting out key experts and most of the established bureaucracy.

The five are longtime Obama adviser Valerie B. Jarrett, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice, Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken and Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for communications. They are said to dictate key policy decisions to Mr. Hagel, Mr. Kerry and other top leaders with little input from Cabinet agencies and departments. …

One official familiar with the situation compared the White House’s dictatorial approach to policymaking to the seven-member Standing Committee of the ruling Chinese Communist Party Politburo, the ultimate decision-making authority. Spokeswomen for the White House and State Department did not return emails seeking comment.

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  Ben Rhodes, Denis McDonough, Hagel, Susan E. Rice, Tony Blinken, Valerie B. Jarrett, White House ‘gang of five’ said to dictate critical policy decisions to Kerry, WorldTribune.com