Who and what are some of the most important governmental actors in American foreign policy? How does the Constitution distribute the responsibility for formulating foreign policy? In your answer,be sure to identify specific actors in the various branches of the U.S.government and to discuss the specific roles these actors play in determining foreign policy.

There are two components to this question.
a.Important actors in American foreign policy: The president and his chief advisers are the principal architects of U.S.foreign policy.However,Congress and the bureaucracy also play important roles in this realm.Specific congressional players of note are the foreign policy,military policy,and intelligence committees: in the Senate,these are the Foreign Relations Committee,the Armed Services Committee,and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; in the House,these are the Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees and the Armed Services Committee.The major foreign policy actors in the bureaucracy are the secretaries of the departments of State,Defense,and the Treasury; the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS); and the director of the CIA.The National Security Council synthesizes all the messages arising out of the bureaucracy and helps the president make his or her own foreign policy.
b.Constitutional distribution of responsibility: The Constitution assigns the president the power to make treaties,appoint ambassadors,and serve as commander in chief of the army and navy.Presidents can also make use of executive agreements to partially bypass congressional power in the realm of foreign relations.Since presidents seem free to use executive agreements as they see fit,the importance of the Senate's constitutional treaty power has sharply diminished.Congress has the power to declare war and the Senate has the power to ratify treaties.For the first 150 years of American history,Congress's foreign policy role was limited because the United States' role in world affairs was limited.During this time,the Senate was the only important congressional foreign policy player because of its constitutional role in reviewing and approving treaties.But since World War II and the continual involvement of the United States in international security and foreign aid,Congress as a whole has become a major foreign-policy maker because most modern foreign policies require financing,which requires action by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.Another aspect of Congress's role in foreign policy is the Senate's power to confirm the president's nominations of cabinet members,ambassadors,and other high-ranking officials.A final constitutional power of Congress is the regulation of "commerce with foreign nations."