Obama to ABC News’ Charlie Gibson:

Well, at some point [Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations] will require my inclusion. I think the parties have to confidence, and you know, I had dinner with King Abdullah yesterday who is as savvy a student of this region and a good friend of Israel’s, and he said one of the things that’s very important for any administration is to establish very clearly who are the people who, when they speak, are speaking for the President and have the President’s ear.

A news item that came to mind:

Behind the [Obama campaign’s foreign policy] e-mail messages is a tight-knit group of aides supported by a huge 300-person foreign policy campaign bureaucracy, organized like a mini State Department, to assist a candidate whose limited national security experience remains a concern to many voters.
“It is unwieldy, no question,” said Denis McDonough, 38, Mr. Obama’s top foreign policy aide, speaking of an infrastructure that has been divided into 20 teams based on regions and issues, and that has recently absorbed, with some tensions, the top foreign policy advisers from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign. “But an administration is unwieldy, too. We also know that it’s messier when you don’t get as much information as you can.”

Is an “unwieldy” “bureaucracy” of 300 person foreign policy advisers a good way to “establish very clearly who are the people who, when they speak, are speaking for the President and have the President’s ear”?

Related question: Does the President need to make sure none of his advisers are, say, going off and having secret meetings with Hamas?