NSC and Cabinet talk

I thought this was a fascinating take, partly because of my own misconceptions.

I know a bit about the National Security Council - why it was created and the purpose it serves. The disconnect with execution here makes perfect sense though, because if the NSC did that then what's the point of the president's cabinet? The Secretary of State and the like?

I had thought that a president's cabinet acting like the staff in our military chain of command. Ie each was responsible for their area of expertise, but they met regularly (under the commander or his executive officer in the military, and if not them then the S3 or J3 as the head of operations) and they'd basically get all the different parts working together.

But the article indicates that cabinets are more isolated than I thought, probably because they're scared of looking weak or incompetent and don't want to kick things up to the president, which... Idk. Seems foolish, but we're tending to deal with giant egos at that level so whatever. Seems presidents don't want to spend all their time managing that, and I'm not sure about the xo or s3 equivalent. The VP historically is actually a token role (used to be it was the opposing candidate from the other party even, so they're not really the XO. And a president's Chief of Staff is more about managing the president's staff (kind of a 'duh' statement), but it's more like the guy who manages their household rather than cabinet wrangler and alter ego for managing the entire business of executing what Congress has legislated.

They keep trying to make these 'czars' for interagency coordination, but really maybe they just need a head cabinet wrangler.

Then again, the executive branch is not truly like a military chain of command. What with congressional oversight, political appointees from other parties, and the bureaucrats who run things while political appointees come and go, it's a sprawling bureaucratic nightmare where even the person who supposedly commands it can't always make things happen like they want.

Edited to ramble a bit more: on second thought, a battalion or brigade or division commander has his/her staff, and executive officer... And then the subordinate units (companies, battalions, etc) headed by their respective commanders. And the cabinet secretaries may be more like those commanders...

That doesn't sound right though. The Department of State supports the president more like staff officers do then like a line officer in charge of combat troops. 

Its just that they serve a different enough purpose from the military that it's not exactly a purely staff situation either. 

Still wouldn't hurt to have the equivalent of a good XO though.