WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has ordered a massive overhaul of the National Security Council that will shrink its size and return many career appointees back to their home agencies, according to two U.S. officials and one person familiar with the reorganization.
The decision significantly reduces the number of NSC staff from its current 350 members, Axios reported, citing an anonymous official involved in planning the reorg.
According to CNN, more than 100 staffers were placed on administrative leave late Friday afternoon. An email sent out around 4:20 p.m. told those being dismissed that they had 30 minutes to pack up their things, a Trump official told the outlet.
The cuts reportedly targeted many of the staffers who don’t share in the president’s agenda. An official described the overhaul to Axios as the latest move against what Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio see as Washington’s “Deep State.”
The NSC has been in a continual state of tumult for much of the early going of Trump’s second go-around in the White House.
Rubio has been serving as national security adviser since early this month following the ouster of Mike Waltz, who was nominated to serve as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Waltz was forced out weeks after Trump said that he’d fired several NSC officials, just a day after far-right activist Laura Loomer raised concerns directly to him about staff loyalty.
Days into the administration, the White House sidelined about 160 NSC aides, sending them home while the administration reviewed staffing and tried to align it with Trump’s vision. The aides were career government employees, commonly referred to as detailees.
This latest shakeup amounts to a “liquidation” of NSC staffing with both career government detailees on assignment to the NSC being sent back to their home agencies and several political appointees being fired from their positions, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.
Rubio confirmed the overhaul to Axios, saying, “The right-sizing of the NSC is in line with its original purpose and the president’s vision. The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies.”
